Ice Age: The Journey to the Green Lands Part I
by Straiya
Summary: After the flood our subzero heroes now find themselves being led to a paradise known as the Green Lands while slowly discovering Crash and Eddie's sad and bizarre pasts. Discontinued to be replaced by a revised re-write on which I'm currently hard work.
1. Prologue

THIS STORY WILL BE RESTARTED SOMETIME IN COMMING MONTHS TO BE REPLACED BY A MUCH MORE SENSIBLE VERSION THAT I SPENT SEVERAL WEEKS REVISING AND RESEARCHING FOR.  
I NEED TO DO THIS BECAUSE MY RESEARCH HAS LEAD ME TO A REALISATION THAT I HAVE COMPLETELY SCREWED UP THE PERSONALITIES AND ATTRIBUTES OF MOST OF THE CHARACTERS (INCLUDING MY OWN, WOULD YOU BELIEVE)

IF YOU WISH TO ATTEMPT TO CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE; FEEL FREE TO WRITE ME A MESSAGE

Prologue

Kerr-Akando's Ultimatum

"That's not what I wanted to hear," said the Stalker, that same unnerving calm in his voice, "Do it."

He addressed the nearby hawk who immediately raised her right talon.

"No, don't! I swear I don't even know who he is, let alone where he is! Let him go, please no more," Cried Eddie, struggling desperately to escape his bonds and stop her from slashing Crash again.

His desperate calls for mercy fell on deaf ears as they had so many times before, leaving him to watch as the hawk's talon swept several times across the tiny body pinned beneath her other talon.

Crash writhed around, screaming in agony as they raked fresh cuts into his flesh, his cries echoing into the previously silent night.

Eddie couldn't bare to watch and shut his eyes as tightly as he could, trying to block out the constant sound of her talons sweeping across his brother's body, the following, gurgling screams and his own cries of guilt and self loathing at being unable to help him.

It took what felt like an eternity until Crash's cries faded and Eddie dared to open his eyes.

He stared at his brother, lying cut, bruised and bleeding, his injuries, although not yet fatal, were serious and definitely immensely painful and now fresh red trickles were making their way down his body in the wake of the latest brutal act of torture.

If only fate had been merciful enough to let that attack finally push Crash into unconsciousness, but no, he returned to Eddie that same pleading gaze, begging him to give an answer he didn't have.

For the first time since this ordeal had begun Eddie took the chance to properly take in he and his brother's captors, looking first at the creature he had come to know as the night stalker, a thing whose entire covering consisted of black fur giving him a definite advantage in the dark, which suited his personality perfectly. Eddie had only known him as a merciless killer, feared across the land for a reputation of death and revenge with a voice of seemingly perpetual calm but ever laced with threat of cruelty. All of this and more were being demonstrated right in front of his eyes every time he heard his brother's cries of pain.

He then looked to the hawk, truly a compliment to her species even if she was a predator, she was beautiful. He had met her once before, except that time she had been crying. A nest, empty except for the remnants of what had once been her chicks, had been lying at her feet and he had stopped to comfort her. Sure he had been nervous at first but her personality had turned out to match her picturesque form, or so he had thought. All he saw now, as he looked into her eyes, was a terrifying fury that would surely even cause the likes of Diego anxiety in her presence.

"Tell me possum. I know you know who I'm talking about, I can smell him on you, even if he wasn't with you when Aldora here managed to catch you, I know you've met him," the Stalker spoke with a hint of impatience. "There's no point in continuing to lie, you know once we're done with this one, you will be next, so why do you continue to resist so pointlessly."

He paused for a moment; most likely thinking of a different approach to this torture, a way that would guarantee Eddie would tell him where his prize was.

He turned to the hawk, "Come to think of it Aldora, if he doesn't answer this time, kill his friend."

The hawk smiled with glee, ecstatic at the chance to finally vent some of her long held rage and raised her right talon, placing the middle claw directly on Crash's throat.

The Stalker now turned back to Eddie and began to approach him, his claws unsheathing as he tread ever nearer.

Eddie felt like he would pass out simply from the fear, he so wished playing dead worked on this guy but Michael, a possum he had come to know as Mikey, had warned that this would only get him killed, so he did the only thing he could do, being bound to this tree, look the Stalker in the eyes and attempt to feign courage that was now long gone.

The Stalker stopped, his face barely an inch from Eddie's, his teeth bared in an impatient anger he could no longer hide and spoke in a voice asserting the atmosphere his mere presence seemed to bring; calm, cruel and threatening.

"Tell me possum, not just for you or your friend but for the good of your entire pathetic species."

He raised a claw and slashed across Eddie's stomach, Eddie cried out in pain, as the claws cut into his skin like searing hot knives.

"Where is the one raised by the sky king, WHERE IS MARCUS'S SON!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Meeting by Chance

The early morning air was still and cool with the sun having just risen above the distant hills, flooding the small clearing with the bright early morning sunlight as Eddie silently snuck past Diego, careful not to wake the tiger, lest Crash's latest plan be ruined.

Eddie stopped to listen once more for any hint of his comrade's rousing, but Diego remained still and quite asleep. Satisfied with the continuing stillness he continued on all fours in an attempt to better control the sound of his footsteps listening intently for any stirring amongst the small ragtag herd he had come to know as his friends.

Now with a quick leap over Manfred's trunk he was clear and began a four-legged sprint toward the edge of the clearing where Crash was waiting for him amongst a thick cluster of ferns.

A frighteningly loud yelp of some unknown cause sounded from amongst the herd, echoing around the clearing. Eddie froze barely a metre from where Crash was hiding, a soft thud issued from amongst the ferns, confirming that Crash was now playing dead leaving Eddie standing frozen to the spot, in clear view, wondering if he should do likewise.

Slowly he turned around, eyes closed, dreading that upon opening them he would surely see a very furious Ellie bearing down on him, which was certainly something to fear, as she had been gaining a noticeable amount of girth lately and he and Crash had been far less than politely quiet about it.

With a sinking feeling that his brother's plan was about to be pummelled out of him, he opened his eyes. Far to the contrary he saw nothing but the overlapping forms of two mammoths, a tiger and a sloth, the latter of whom he now realized must have been having a nightmare and had been yelling in his sleep.

Immensely relieved he turned back to the ferns and continued quickly but cautiously toward Crash's hiding place.

He was quick to notice that his brother had not yet realized that there was in fact no giant, angry, mammoth sister about to beat him senseless, and was still lying on his back with his tongue sticking out, now resting in a large group of painful looking, stinging ants. Begrudgingly deciding better of the hilarious thought of his brother rolling around while trying to scratch the thousands of painfully itchy lumps those ants would surely bring, he grabbed his brother's arm and pulled him to his feet.

"It's ok Crash it was just Sid," he whispered to his brother who was now fully awake and trying to brush the ants off himself before they began stinging him relentlessly, "Is it ready?"

"Yeah," Crash answered also whispering to avoid waking anyone, "Chubby didn't hear you did she."

Eddie couldn't help sniggering at the snide comment his brother had made before he answered, "No, no one heard me, but you're lucky you didn't shoot anyone else with that pea shooter," he gestured to the small hollow reed Crash was holding, "I think you hit Sid."

"I did," Crash sniggered, making the reason for Sid's earlier sleep yelp very clear as he began to crawl away through the undergrowth stopping only to slap his arm crushing an ant that was still crawling through his fur.

"What were you thinking?" whispered Eddie, beginning to crawl after Crash, annoyed at his brother's thoughtlessness, "If that idiot had woken Ellie, I'd be flatter than that ant right now."

He gestured toward where Crash had thrown the very flat and very dead ant.

"C'mon Ed, you gotta admit it was funny," protested Crash, disappointed at his brother's apparent lack of merriment, now ducking under a root that was now sticking out of the ground after having the surrounding soil washed away by the floodwater as it had escaped the valley.

"No Crash, I think I almost had a heart attack," answered Eddie contemptuously, ducking under the same root, "I should pull your ears off for that one. Don't do it again."

Crash didn't dare answer, most likely afraid to say anything to further upset the possum who had already proven himself to be the greatest expert in ear torture throughout the entire history of the world and thinking it better to try focusing on the cool stunt he was about to perform.

As they grew closer Eddie remembered the misgivings he'd had about this the night before, as he always did before one of Crash's crazy stunts, especially when they involved Eddie himself, what if Crash landed in a river, what if he was caught in midair by some sharp eyed bird of prey or worse what if Ellie happened to walk in on their scheme and after administering some savage beatings, had them tied to Diego, for security reasons, the rest of their lives, which, in that event, probably wouldn't last much more than a day.

Lost in his fresh river of anxious thoughts, Eddie had failed to realize that Crash had stopped and was standing right in front of him. He ran headlong into Crash and found himself lying face to face on top of him.

"Eh hem, Eddie is their something you want to tell me," Crash asked nervously, bringing to light the highly awkward and curiously suggestive position in which the two had found themselves, "Cause if you're thinking what I think you're thinking, then my answer is definitely no."

Eddie rolled off quickly, and stood up, very much mortified by the highly disturbing, well illustrated, thought his brother's comment had just brought into his mind and the fact that Crash had only just missed kicking him in the crotch.

"Well now that we have that out of the way, I hope," Crash added, eyeing his brother suspiciously as he got to his feet, "I think we should get on with it."

He turned and crawled through a small gap in the thick scrub that now surrounded them, Eddie followed. Maintaining a safe distance between himself and his brother, he jumped through the opening and was momentarily blinded by the light of the now fully risen sun, which he found was surprisingly bright after the shadowy half light of the dense foliage in which he had spent the last half hour tripping and staggering.

As his eyes slowly adjusted to the light he noticed two things, first he was now on the edge of precarious cliff top and that his brother was standing next to a rubber tree that's top had been bent to the ground and was now tied there by disturbingly thin vine being used as a rope that had been wrapped several times around a rock with a knot on the end most likely to stop it unravelling.

Crash cleared his throat, mainly for effect, before beginning his announcement in a very loud showy voice, "Ladies and ladies," the last remark clearly in reference to the momentary unpleasantness beforehand, "I present to you, The Flying Possum!"

He then walked over to Eddie who was standing, mouth open, dumbfounded by the achievement his questionably intelligent brother had made in only one night and without his help.

"So what d'ya think?" asked Crash, his voice filled with pride at his overnight achievement

Eddie didn't answer; far too stunned at how his brother's apparent suicidal intentions had reached such a new height.

"Hellooo, Earth to Eddie," Crash waved his hand in front of his brother's face surprised but nonetheless very proud of the reaction he had brought on in his brother.

"Crash," Eddie began "You know I've stuck by you all this time and yeah some of the stuff we've done has been kinda fun and crazy and I intend to continue it but if you really want to know what I think, Crash," he grabbed his brother by the shoulders and shook him, "you've gone completely nuts!"

Crash's face broke into a wide grin, clearly un-phased by his brother's comment; on the contrary in fact, it seemed more like he was pleased by his brother's uncertainty.

Still grinning excitedly, he released himself from Eddie's grip and walked back over to the cliff edge, gesturing for Eddie to follow.

One slow, shaky step at a time, Eddie obeyed if only to see anything even slightly reassuring about how this would turn out.

As fate would have it, he was only more terrified by what his brother said next.

"Look over there," Crash pointed into the distance, Eddie following his brother's gesture and found himself staring at what seemed like a tiny blue speck far below and far away, "That's where I'm aiming, see that pond there."

Eddie spoke, his voice shaking in anxiety that he couldn't have hidden even if he wanted to, "Tha-that pond, but it's too far, even if you get shot from here you'll never make it. You'll get splattered; there'll be nothing left of you, moron!"

Crash merely let out a short laugh and took up position on the end of the tree wrapping his tail tightly around it so he could balance.

"On the count of three I want you to let go of this vine," instructed Crash, untying the knot at the end of the vine and handing it to Eddie who had only come over out of impulse to give his brother one last hug before he embarked on this hair-brained stunt that was surely going to end up killing him.

Eddie reluctantly took the vine from Crash only because he knew if he didn't; it would have fallen and unravelled from around the rock, sending Crash soaring to his death.

"Remember on the count of three," began Crash, "One, Two…"

"Tell me you're not about to do what I think you are. Especially after what happened last time"

Eddie jumped dropping the vine and began looking around for who had spoken, before remembering what was happening and diving after the vine, now unravelling from around the rock, only just catching the end before it completed its final revolution.

Gripping the vine tightly, holding on for his brother's sake, he continued looking for who had spoken while at the same time straining against the increasing pull from the surprisingly strong rubber tree.

"Who's there," called Eddie, in a strained voice as he tried to hold onto the vine that was now slowly slipping through his grip despite his best efforts.

"Me of course," came the voice again.

Whoever they were, the voice was definitely male and possessed a strong British accent.

"Oh, sorry, you didn't see me last time did you," the voice continued, "Well I was merely stating the sheer hilarity of the fact that you would actually increase the magnitude of a stunt after failing so painfully the first time. Possums really are stupid, well, maybe with one exception."

The voice sounded close, far to close for comfort, Eddie could tell it was emanating from somewhere in the scrub through which he and his brother had reached this place.

"Who are you, show yourself," Crash was trying to sound as threatening as possible but Eddie could tell he was terrified from the shaking in his voice.

"Oh, you actually think _you _could possibly frighten _me_ little possum. You realise even the vultures don't descend on a carcass without my permission, especially in these parts," whoever it was seemed to find the brother's threats hilarious as they couldn't stop chuckling as they spoke.

"Well if you really want to know who I am," the phantom continued, "All you have to do is look up."

Eddie let his gaze travel up the nearest tree, up to the lowest branched where his gaze was returned to him by a pair of amber, yellow eyes staring right back at him.

As he stared up at them the eyes began to move, it seemed as if they were moving further up the branch into the sunlight. Eddie could only look on while straining at the vine, on which he was slowly losing his grip, as the creature slowly revealed itself.

First one, taloned, foot stepped out of the darkness, immediately followed by a wing, and then a feathered body appeared, its plumage mostly grey and white.

The creature continued to reveal itself until Eddie found himself looking into the eyes of every possum's worst nightmare.

"Hawk!" Eddie cried, his body immediately tightening up in an instinctive reaction that no possum could control in these circumstances and he fell backwards, loosing grip on the vine completely.

"Eddie," called Crash, "Wait, don-"

Too late, the tree flew up and Crash was flung right off the cliff and into the air, only now realising just how stupid this whole thing really was and just how right Eddie had been.

The hawk, still resting on the branch, had watched the whole event unfold and was now laughing uncontrollably at the act of shear stupidity that had taken place.

After regaining control of himself and seeing that the fun was over, the hawk took off and flew away from both potential meals but he wasn't hungry anyway and had only watched this for the sheer entertainment value; he'd already eaten breakfast.

* * *

'_How peaceful it is this morning, much better than yesterday's never ending rain. Ahh, the birds, how their calls fill the silent emptiness of the land, the sound of water lapping, hmm, irreplaceable in my opinion, I could just lie here forever. Why should I care where dad is? I mean, how many times in a possum's life does he get to enjoy moments like these._'

Michael lay next to the small pond he and his father had decided should be their resting place for the night, letting the rays of the rising sun warm him as he tried again to doze off after that stupid raven, Corbin, had woken him whilst looking for Michael's father.

This had annoyed him greatly, most likely why he had respond by telling Corbin that his father wasn't here and to buzz off and find a rotting aardvark to chew on like the stupid scavenger he was. This had clearly offended Corbin who had pecked him in the face and said something about him being a good for nothing rodent before flying away.

At first Michael had pondered over whether or not he had been too harsh on Corbin, after all he was only trying to do his job as messenger, but after finding that he was now unable to fall asleep again, Mikey, as he preferred to be known, now cursed that damn bird.

After failing for what felt like the hundredth time to fall back to sleep, Mikey sat up rubbing his eyes and let out a largest yawn he'd managed in ages, well last night was also his first full night's sleep, that had been free of nightmares, ever since they'd moved from the valley.

Standing up, Mikey could feel his stomach rumble with hunger. Only now realising he hadn't eaten since yesterday, Mikey immediately set about foraging for food.

After fumbling in some nearby bushes for what he'd hoped to be raspberries and instead finding poisonous dark purple things, he remembered the apple tree he'd seen yesterday.

Although the season had just ended and the flood had pretty much stripped most of the larger plants bare, he was sure he had seen some tasty looking apples near the top, and with this thought in mind, he set off in the direction he could last remembered seeing it.

About ten minutes later Mikey was lounging in the fork of two branches, of the before mentioned tree, and after thanking his father for instilling in him the sense of direction only a creature like his dad could possess, he immediately began stuffing his face with bites from every apple within his reach. Although admittedly these late-season offerings were a bit toward the bitter side, he was enjoying himself nonetheless, at least until a voice from overhead interrupt his one possum apple party.

"Honestly Michael, if your father were half as gluttonous as you, he would be far too fat and lazy to get anywhere," laughed a familiar voice. Mikey looked up and spotted the source resting few branches above himself. Marlon, a fearsome looking falcon whose position as Mikey's father's best friend had earned him the duty of Mikey's round the clock babysitter whenever his father wasn't around, and neither of them particularly enjoyed this arrangement.

"Whaaf oo ant," Mikey asked, attempting to talk through a mouthful of apple, which at the look of intense amusement on Marlon's face, he decided to swallow before attempting speech once more, "What do you want Marlon."

"The same thing as always," answered Marlon, fighting back laughter at the sight of all the apple remnants sticking to Mikey's face, "To make sure you're safe."

"Well I think you'd be happy to know I'm still fine as ever but thanks for the check up, now don't you have somewhere else to be, Corbin told me Dad's missing," shot Mikey, who was now cleaning the apple pieces of his face, only now realising what a sticky pelt truly felt like.

"Oh yes, well you know my duty and I can't break it, even for that," Marlon now spoke with that annoying smugness he always seemed to reserve especially for Mikey, "Anyway I wouldn't advise being alone, Corbin tells me there's been more sightings. I believe that would be why he's looking for you father."

Mikey didn't answer, the moment Marlon had mentioned sightings he'd known what the falcon was talking about. The Stalker; a mysterious hunter which had only appeared recently and was now spreading panic and fear everywhere but he was far too full and sleepy to be bothered discussing such a grim yet boring subject.

He had by now had finished clearing the last of the apple off his face, began to climb towards the top of the tree to catch a nap in the warm morning sunlight before swimming in the pond to remove the sticky patches that now covered his face and the upper half of his body.

"What are you doing Michael?" asked Marlon, watching Mikey climb up toward the higher branches.

"Catching a nap if you must know and I don't need your permission to do that, do I?" Stated Mikey irritably, wrapping his tail around the highest branch he could reach.

"As if you needed any more fattening up," Marlon began, taking another shot at Mikey's happy-go-lucky personality that he so despised, "Seriously, if it's as much as I can do not to devour you right now, what do you think that Stalker's going to do?"

Mikey busied himself in finding a comfortable hanging position in which to sleep, before letting out a yawn and returning Marlon's insult with an attack of his own, "Don't worry, if he finds me, I'm sure you can fight him off, _Wild Falcon_."

Michael chuckled as he heard the unmistakable sound of Marlon beginning an aggressive advance but thinking better of it.

The reason for this remark bothering Marlon so, was that about a year ago Mikey had "accidentally" overheard Marlon and his mate, Stace, while they were "being intimate".

Mikey now considered himself blessed to have some ammunition to use on Marlon whenever he started making things personal and never ever missed a chance to use it.

'_Finally I might be able to get a good day's sleep as well'_ thought Mikey closing his eyes just as a buzzing began somewhere in the distance.

'_What the heck is that sound'_.

Mikey opened his eyes to look for the source of the irritating noise.

"Do you hear that, Marlon?" he called down, to the falcon who was currently busy scanning the ground for any mice that might come after the apple cores Mikey had dropped and hadn't heard anything.

"What?" Marlon asked back annoyed by the sudden interruption.

The noise was getting louder, it wasn't a distant hum at all now, it sounded more like a distant yell getting steadily louder.

"That noise," Mikey called again.

"I don't hear anything, are you sure you didn't dre-"

Mikey never heard the rest of Marlon's statement because at that moment, what had definitely been someone's terrified yells, reached a loud crescendo and Mikey was struck hard and painfully from the tree by something large, soft and travelling through the air at an incredible speed.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Doomed by Chance

Mikey woke with a start, opening his eyes; he looked up into the branches of what appeared to be a very large oak tree.

He sat up, wincing as a massive headache now gripped him. Suspecting a concussion, he quickly pulled his hand up in front of his face to see if two fingers would become four. Thankfully this was not the case and his vision was definitely not doubled since he only saw one oak tree as he stood up to see if he could walk, just to check his balance.

Slowly he made his way through all the steps his father had taught him on how to tell if he was seriously injured and as far as he could tell, apart from a slowly fading headache, the results were promising.

After quickly taking stock of the situation, he tried to remember how he had gotten here in the first place.

Ok, he remembered talking to Marlon in the apple tree about something. Sightings, that was it and he had gone up the tree to take a nap before, before… he couldn't remember what had happened after that point. Wait sightings!

'_The Stalker_!' He thought to himself and it was then that his true situation hit him. He was alone and right now a creature with a reputation for stealth and lethal ambushes was prowling around, possibly in any of the bushes around him and no one was here to protect him. He felt something at that moment, something that he had never felt before, alone and vulnerable; what it was like to feel truly helpless.

Somewhere nearby someone let out a groan, Mikey jumped with his tiny fists raised in a ridiculous attempt to look tough, but as he looked around nothing jumped out at him teeth, bared ready to tear him limb from limb, instead he heard the groan again and it definitely came from somewhere very close by.

He instantly looked to where he believed the sounds to be coming from and saw their source. Lying at the base of the oak tree was another possum, unmoving except for an occasional twitch.

Mikey approached slowly at first, following the rule of assisting an injured comrade, thanks again to the constant lessons his father had forced upon him throughout his childhood.

Checking his surroundings every few steps, he made his way to the injured possum and kneeled down next to it, and took one last look around in case of an ambush before lowering his head to the possum's chest to check for a heart beat at first, which he managed to hear almost instantly although it was very slow and weak.

Mikey raised his head and looked down upon the possum thinking. Taking quick look over the injured creature he noticed that its chest wasn't rising and falling properly. Now with a rough idea of the problem he lowered his head again, pressing his ear to the possum's chest but a little higher this time.

Yep, there it was, a faint whistling noise.

Standing up and taking a few steps back, Mikey prepared to perform something he'd made up himself but had never really had, nor wanted, the chance to try it on a living thing. After carefully setting up the angle in his head, Mikey broke into a quick run, before leaping into the air, hoping he'd gotten this right.

As he fell his elbow struck perfectly in the centre of the other possum's chest, the possum seemed to flop comically as Mikey landed and along with what was probably the world's worst coughing fit, a small acorn flew up from the possums mouth, with Mikey managing to catch it just before it could fall back in again.

Relieved Mikey could feel that although still unconscious, the possum began to take in huge gulps of air and thinking it better to stand up and give the guy some room, Mikey took a few steps backwards.

As he did so, he bumped into something, something soft and furry, something that seemed to growl at his touch.

Turning around slowly, carefully avoiding any quick movements he, moved to face this new arrival, desperately hoping it to be Marlon, or better yet, his father.

Oh if only he could be so lucky.

Instead of the a hawk or falcon, he now found himself staring up into the ever feared, deep, dark eyes of the an unmistakable horror, its body covered in a layer night-black fur with a face that could only show vicious intent, The Stalker.

"Well you're out," it spoke with a calm, cold voice, pausing momentarily to look at the sun, "late. Or is it early with your kind?"

Mikey shook with fear completely paralysed by the intense feeling of dread and immanent death with which the creature was so frighteningly adept at filling its surrounding environment, and was unable to answer the Stalker's question, his hand merely fell open dropping the acorn.

"Scared, too frightened for words it seems. Why is it that so many seem so intent on holding their last breath when I meet them?" The creature clearly found something amusing about Mikey's utter terror and couldn't help smiling menacingly, "I see you're not alone, I must compliment you on the simplicity of the manner in which you saved your friend. Ironic isn't it, that mere moments after his revival, he was fated to die."

Mikey couldn't believe the situation in which he now found himself, his gaze trapped in the eyes of a thing that was clearly so used to freezing its prey with fear that it felt compelled to taunt them before they were inevitably devoured. It was clear to him now that this creature's reputation was definitely a well deserved one.

"Are you not going to speak little possum, it's probably the best chance to prolong your life that you could ever hope to receive from me?" the creature was still smiling and staring into Mikey's eyes, seeming to penetrate his very soul.

He did however decide it best to attempt speech, if only to give him a chance to look for the now seemingly impossible chance to escape, if only he could stop staring into its eyes.

"P-p-please d-don't, I'll d-do anything," he begged, shaking uncontrollably, using the only words he could fish out of his mind, which only made the creature give a large grin of amusement, giving Mikey a full view of its many razor-sharp teeth.

The thing lowered its head to his level, until its eyes were right in front of his own, "Many have begged for that, but I'm afraid my only answer is and always will be, no."

As it spoke the final word, the Stalker opened it's jaws, Mikey could feel it's warm breath, wreaking of the flesh of the hundreds of unfortunates before him and pulled its head back preparing for a stylish snatch it had perfected over the years to ensure the prey bled as a little as possible so that its flesh remained soft and juicy.

Everything seemed to happen in an instant, the Stalker threw itself, jaws wide open, directly at Mikey's neck. However Mikey, freed from the paralysing view of those hypnotic eyes, dived as fast as he could to his left, avoiding the Stalker's final killing bite.

Rolling onto his back to see what the Stalker was doing, he very narrowly avoided a lethal blow from one of the Stalker's now unsheathed claws, completely by accident.

Barely sure of what he was doing, Mikey leapt to his feet and began to run on all fours right toward the Stalker, making sure to avoid looking into its eyes and dived underneath its large, black body.

Rolling onto his back again, he began to kick mercilessly up toward the Stalker's soft underbelly. The beast let out a terrifying yowl, more of anger and frustration, than pain and leapt away from the surprisingly dangerous possum.

Spinning round, in one quick movement, it made a pounce toward Mikey who attempted to dive away once more, but as he reached the ground he felt the Stalker's jaw bite down on his tail and in a second equally fast movement of its head, the beast threw Mikey into the air right toward a tree.

(SMACK!)

Mikey slammed, headlong into the tree and began to slide down the smooth bark, dizzy, disorientated and barely conscious and slumped on the tree's roots.

The Stalker, taking full advantage of the lethal upper hand it now possessed, pounced once more toward a helpless Mikey. As it flew through the air paws outstretched and claws unsheathed, something awkward happened, instead of landing on the possum ready to devour this delightfully playful meal, the Stalker was grabbed in the talons of a low flying bird, which unable to carry the weight, let go, throwing the Stalker into a cluster of ferns.

The beast rolled many times before stopping in a tangled heap, completely unconscious.

Mikey stood up slowly, again noticing an immense pain somewhere in his body, but this time it wasn't just his head. His tail was stinging terribly and after grabbing it and pulling it into view, he noticed the damage was much worse than he had thought. Blood was flowed in a steady stream over his hand, from the badly mangled remnants, that were once the final few centimetres of his tail.

Marlon's voice broke in from the branches overhead, "Michael, are you alright!"

"Sort of," Mikey answered shakily, still reeling from the event which had just taken place and his own revulsion of the bloody piece of flesh, at which he was now staring .

He felt a small cool breeze flow passed him, followed by a soft rustling that could only be Marlon flying down to investigate, probably fearful of what Mikey's father would do to him should he ever find out that Mikey had been attacked and subsequently wounded under his watch.

"Let me see that," Marlon spoke with real concern in his voice, possibly the first time Mikey had ever heard it from him, leaning down to investigate Mikey's mangled tail, "I'm sorry Michael, it's my fault. I shouldn't have let you go up to that branch."

"No worries Marlon," Mikey now spoke still shakily, his entire body now shivering uncontrollably, "I should have been more careful, sorry Marlon"

"Not as sorry as you are about to be," returned Marlon, after examining the injury, "Hold out your tail, I'm afraid I'm going to have to remove that."

He indicated the bloody, mangled portion of Mikey's tail.

"What!" Mikey yelled, and pulled his tail closer to himself in an attempt to hide it from Marlon.

"Michael, that injury is far too serious, if I leave it there it's going to become infected, please it's for your own good," Marlon begged Mikey to hand over his tail.

Deciding it was best to follow Marlon's advice, Mikey held out his tail and Marlon proceeded to grip the injured portion in his beak.

Deciding he'd much rather not look at his own mutilation, Mikey turned around to give Marlon as much room as he could to do his work.

Marlon mumbled something that sounded like "ready?" and Mikey nodded, mentally preparing himself for the pain he was about to experience and he gave the order, "Do it."

Mikey screamed as he felt a stab of sudden, intense pain shoot through his tail, his cries echoing into the surrounding trees as Marlon's incredibly sharp beak sliced clean through his tail, severing the injury completely.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Sky King's Son

Eddie couldn't believe it, he could have sworn that cry had sounded from somewhere nearby, and whoever it was needed help. For all he knew it was probably Crash, and yet he found himself sitting under a large pine tree taking in huge gulps of air in a desperate attempt to catch his breath after running around in the forest searching for what had felt like hours.

This morning Crash had once again attempted to catapult himself into the air, this time from a cliff and had landed somewhere in the forest, now stripped bare by last week's flood waters. Even though Crash had most likely been killed by the impact of such a fall, Eddie felt he had to try and find him, if only to prove that if he went back he wasn't leaving his helpless but alive brother to be eaten by predators; that was something he would never be able to forgive himself for.

Moments ago Eddie had heard a cry of what was definitely pain, hoping that it was his brother waking up to the world's worst headache and maybe several broken limbs, he had sprinted off in the direction from which he believed the cry had emanated. Sitting here now, he was quite sure it must have been much more distant than he had previously thought or this had been completely wrong way. Neither thought was particularly comforting as either way he had only been this lost once before in his life and that time it had been snowing, with a blizzard approaching and only a chance meeting with a bird had saved him.

He couldn't remember many of the details nor how he'd managed to find his way back that time either, after all he had been quite young when it had happened.

After getting his breath back, Eddie decided to climb up the tree and get a better view of the surroundings or at least get a glimpse of where the cliff was, so that he knew where to go to find the rest of the herd, assuming they had woken by now and were frantically searching for him and Crash.

Eddie had always hated climbing pine trees, the density of the tree itself meaning he always ended up with thousands of pine needles caught in his fur and they always made him maddeningly itchy. Of course sometimes you just got to do what you got to do, and as he reached the highest point at the tip of the tree, which had healed surprisingly fast after supposedly being stripped bare by the flood, he ended up looking more like a spiky, green porcupine than a possum. Scratching at the areas on his body into which pine needles were now sticking rather painfully, not all of them particularly "savoury" areas either, he began to look around for any landmarks he recognised.

It didn't take long for him to notice the cliff face, towering into the heavens several miles away; at least now he new where to go back to get his but kicked in a million different ways by Ellie, however he was far more interested in anything that could possibly show him where Crash might have landed, yet it seemed that no matter what direction in which he looked, Eddie couldn't see anything promising in the surrounding .

"No matter where they look they never see what it is they seek," a slightly high pitched, fast talking voice sounded from beneath Eddie, who gave a jolt of surprise, almost falling from the tree, "No no, not even the hawks nor the falcons, but the raven sees all and he is seeing you seeking and he wonders how it is that he can help."

"What?" Eddie exclaimed.

Looking down to search for the source of these strange words, he noticed a small jet black bird, sitting on the branch immediately beneath him.

"He sees the seeker seeking him and he wonders why he must be looking up at one of those on which he looks down, is it that this groundling seeks the help of those who ride the wind? Surely he knows they desire no business with those who are gravity bound," the raven was looking at Eddie with a look, he assumed, was of puzzlement.

"If you're asking me if I'm looking for something, yes I am, but I'm not looking for a bird, I'm looking for a my brother, he's a possum too," Eddie answered the raven's question, assuming that it had been asking about what he was looking for, "he got flung from that cliff over there and I think he landed somewhere in this forest."

Eddie pointed toward the top of the cliff on which he had seen his brother make his second attempt at the stunt he now called "the flying possum."

"You say you seek, a groundling in high places, unusual, but to the raven impossible tis not, for he did see a wingless flyer swimming through waterless ocean above, this very morn," the raven answered Eddie's question maintaining the peculiar dialect it possessed.

"Where'd it land, can you show me, please?" Eddie begged the raven to show him where it had landed, ecstatic to finally have a chance of finding his brother.

"The raven does wonder what you can offer in the return for the time he values ever highly," the raven asked Eddie, with a nasty smile on his face.

"I don't have anything to give you," Eddie's short lived happiness was now fading at the realisation that this raven wanted payment in return for leading him to his brother, "Can't you please help me, I need to find him, please, I'll be really grateful if you do.Wait, I have a friend, he's a tiger you know, and I bet I could make him kill something for you to eat."

The raven paused for a moment to consider Eddie's proposal before answering, "Very well, troubled groundling, follow the raven, he will show you where to make that which you seek into that which you sought."

* * *

Mikey lay on his stomach, eyes closed and his teeth gritted trying desperately to hold back tears. He had never cried in front of Marlon and was not about to do so, even in the face of the incredible pain that he felt in his tail from the partial amputation Marlon had just performed on it to remove a portion that had been badly mauled by the Stalker. 

He muffled a yell as the possum who, he had just saved with, some help Marlon, finished, wrapping a leaf around the wound and pulled it tighter, in an effort to stop the the blood that was leaking in small red streams from Mikey's tail.

"Yes, finally, that's how you do it," came the voice of Marlon the falcon, who had been instructing the other possum, apparently named Crash, how to properly tie the leaf.

Mikey sat up wincing with the effort the simple movement took him, making sure not to move his tail too much, as he knew this would surely bring more pain even if it didn't undo the leaf. He looked at the possum, Crash, who had helped him after claiming to have been woken by Mikey's screams of agony as Marlon had performed the initial removal, Mikey was however, quite sure that he had been playing dead the entire time.

This stranger was pretty much your usual garden variety possum, with three, wide, creamy-white bands wrapping around his, otherwise dark-brown coat, from front to back, and a thin rat-like tail. However, like anyone Mikey had met, this teenager possessed his own unique physical qualities as well, the most obviouse being his bright, sky-blue eyes and a slightly but still noticeably crinkled nose; a clear indication that it had been broken pretty badly at somepoint.

Crash was currently looking at his hands which were now covered in Mikey's blood after having dressed his wound with a leaf and then having to remove it after being told by Marlon that it had been tied incorrectly, this had taken more than eight agonising attempts before it had met Marlon's standards.

"Cool," Crash remarked, clearly finding something amusing about the blood that now stained his fur, "When I find Eddie I can pretend to be a zombie, It'll be great. Kinda a smells a bit though."

Mikey shot him a dangerous look, sickened by the disturbing entertainment Crash seemed to have found in the crimson patches on his arms and front.

Marlon appeared to be siding with Crash given the comment he made soon after his incredibly insensitive remark, "Hmm your right, you do look, and sure as heck smell dead. I'm pretty sure it would work."

Crash was clearly happy to have the falcon agree with him but still maintained a good distance between them, especially since the unfortunate instance when he had first noticed Marlon and had tried to run. The falcon had been much too fast for him and, seeing his potential use in this situation, had pinned Crash under one of his talons and threatened to rip his head off if he didn't promise to stay and help out.

"Yeah, you'll be covered in flies in no time just like a rotting animal, but I think it would suite you too well," Mikey couldn't help mouthing off at Crash, the pain he had just been in and still felt, had put him in a very bad mood, as it would anyone really.

"Come on Michael, that's no way to talk to the person who just saved your life he-," Marlon began, but Mikey cut in.

"Saved _my _life, if I hadn't been here, he would never have even woken up again, that stupid thing would have ripped him apart and before you even think about making me thank him anyway, take one look at my tail and _then_ think about who should be thanking who. I mean if he hadn't even hit me in th-," Mikey ceased abruptly and looked down gritting his teeth again.

He hadn't stoped for lack of words to throw at them but because the stress was beginning to make him woozy and making his tail throb terribly.

Crash scoffed and turned away, he wasn't smiling anymore but he didn't look concerned either, just nonchalant as he walked away and sat down, mumbling something about someone named Eddie and how he would have been more grateful, while trying to spit on the blood and try to rub it off.

Mikey sat clutching his tail, staring at it and wondering how the heck he was supposed to sleep while he waited for the injury to heal if he couldn't use it to hang off trees. Knowing that to attempt it would be far too painful and would almost certainly make his tail bleed again.

"Behold those the raven seeks hide in mystery no longer. Possum, your friends are found," a voice Mikey recognised as belonging to Corbin came from the raven that had just perched himself on a branch next to Marlon, who had also flown up onto the branch but to stand sentry in case the Stalker decided to return.

Below the raven, another possum walked into the clearing and looked around briefly before running over to Crash and embracing him in a more than friendly hug.

"Crash, I thought you were dead," exclaimed the possum still tightly hugging a clearly uncomfortable Crash, who returned the hug nonetheless.

Mikey looked on, now very curious about who this new arrival was and especially what kind relationship he had with Crash, finding the only conclusion he could come up with highly disturbing but also highly amusing.

Finally noticing the blood on Crash's hands, the stranger seemed to jump back out of Crash's arms horrified by it and instantly began looking him over while stammering, "Crash wha- what happened to you. The blood, how'd it, why did you."

Crash quickly grabbed the possum and held him still, trying to calm him down by yelling over his constant stream of questions,"Eddie, Eddie, I'm fine. It's his, the blood came from him," Crash reassured the newcomer who's name was apparently Eddie, pointing at Mikey who had been sitting and watching the peculiar event unfold, "It's from his tail, that bird over there made me do it."

"WHAT! You cut off his tail," Eddie cried, apparently taking Crash's explanation completely the wrong way and began staring at the nub at the end of what was still most of Mikey's tail.

Mikey, feeling the need to clarify things, broke into the conversion that this, what appeared to him to be a single gender couple, were having, by jumping to his feet and successfully yelling over the top of them himself.

"OK Alright, geez, if you shut up I'll explain it" he yelled as loud as he could, causing both of the other possums to fall silent instantly.

He then turned to Eddie and began to explain what had happened, brandishing his tail as evidence, "Listen, Eddie right? Well your erm, significant other, here, was forced by that falcon over their, Marlon, to wrap up my tail with this leaf to stop it from bleeding, after _Marlon_ cut off the part that was already bitten. Is it clear now?"

Speaking of his tail; it was beginning to throb, painfully, agin, forcing him to sit back down and try to calm himself. Taking Mikey's temporary silence as a chance to speak himself, Crash decided to clear up a misunderstanding of his own.

"We're not gay," he began, clearly referring to the "significant other" statement Mikey had just made, "he's my brother, you idiot."

Admitedly, it was obviouse that the two sure did look like family, but Eddie's eyes were clearly a soft dark brown colour, as opposed to Crash's blue eyes, and, unlike Crash, Eddie's nose was still in perfect shape. A very clear difference was that while Crash's face was predominantly a beige, like his stripes, Eddie had streak of dark brown fur which coninued from the top of his head, between his eyes, to the very end of his muzzle, where his nose began.

Finally Corbin, who had been silent up until now, spoke in his usual style of speech but at a great speed, "Marlon, someone approaches, not that which haunts the night neither those of the winged domain, but one of orange who stalk the day but still insist on sight at night. After the teeth of whom, are the species named. If you must know, he who stalks the bushes that to the left of you reside."

Marlon had spent long enough with Corbin to know what he had meant and took flight immediately after having flown down again to protect Mikey in case a fight broke out, only just escaping the sabre tooth, who leapt from the bushes to his left, landing right in the middle of the clearing.

"Leave the possums alone," the tiger growled at Marlon, who was, once again, in the relative safety of a nearby tree.

"Diego?" Mikey could hear Crash talking to the tiger, "You found us!"

"Just in time by the looks of it," The tiger returned Crash's comment, now sheathing his claws again and standing straight but still watching Marlon who was returning his gaze with a furious glare of his own.

Diego switched his gaze to the Corbin who merely looked on thoroughly nonchalant, "What's the big idea raven?"

"Do for your friends as they have done for you, to tell of danger promised the raven long ago and a raven will never lie, three truths he gives to you. Choose you may, that, you fancy greatest," Corbin answered the tiger's question, still sounding completely unconcerned.

Diego growled at the raven, although he wasn't sure what it had said, he knew it had been an insult of some kind.

"Diego where's the others," Crash asked, eager to know if they were close by, "How'd you find us?"

"Where's Ellie?" Eddie began to question Diego as well.

"They're all still at the clearing, like _you_ should be," Diego spoke accusingly to Crash and Eddie, now glaring at them, furiously, "You're lucky Sid woke me with his stupid sleep cries, or I couldn't have followed you two idiots here. You know how Ellie's been, if either of you had died-"

"She'd be real sad, everyone cries, we get it, yeesh," interrupted Crash, after having heard this speech from Manny over a thousand times, "You gotta get out more Diego, you know have some fun, maybe then you wouldn't be so much of goodie, goodie, kitty cat, all the time."

Mikey, who had leapt out of the way to avoid Diego, now sat again massaging his tail, which he again found extremely painful after having landed on it. He couldn't help noticing the Diego's claws beginning to unsheathe again and wondered whether he should call Marlon into combat to protect Crash, who seemed intent on starting a fight with this tiger, which prompted him to ask himself, had they done this before?

"You know, maybe have _swim, _eh Diego," Crash teased, and began laughing, unable to help himself.

This last remark clearly touched a nerve, striking something very deep within the tiger, because, as Crash doubled over with laughter, Diego completely snapped and took a bone shattering slash at the possum, who had clearly seen this coming and ducked the blow, further reinforcing Mikey's belief that this was indeed not the first time these two had fought. Eddie, however, wasn't so lucky and was only able to let out a small yelp of surprise before he was struck by Diego's paw at full force, sending him flying into the air and landing with a soft thud on the dead grass, lying completely still.

Crash shrieked and sprinted over to his brother, grabbing him and trying to shake him into consciousness but Eddie merely lolled about like rag doll.

"Eddie, Eddie speak to me please," Crash begged his completely limp brother to answer, "Diego you killed him, wait till Ellie finds out she'll, she'll. Oh Eddie please wake up."

Diego was clearly not pleased with what he had done to the innocent bystander and, once again sheathing his claws, he hurriedly leapt over to investigate the damage he'd done.

Mikey had also run over to see what had happened to Eddie and deciding to see the injuries himself, he pushed a blubbering Crash out of the way he began to feel Eddie's body for broken bones and any other serious injuries, after first feeling for a heartbeat, which he'd found without any difficulty at all.

"Is he alright, I didn't hit that hard-did I?" asked Diego, with little more concern than Mikey would have expected from a sabre, but then again today, was by far the weirdest he'd experienced in ages.

"Yes tiger you did hit him pretty hard, he'll probably have some bruises but I think you only stunned him, he should be fine," answered Mikey, after he was thoroughly satisfied that there was in fact nothing seriously wrong.

"What do you mean fine, he's dead," Crash cried, kneeling over his brother, again attempting to wake him; this time by slapping Eddie's face repeatedly.

Diego looked at toward Mikey, finding his opinion much more reassuring, "I'll take your word for it. Whoever you are."

"Name's Mikey," he responded in the friendliest tone he could manage given the circumstances, "Crash called you Diego, that's your name right?"

Diego nodded in answer to Mikey's question.

"Well, Diego, You said something about others, are you guys part of a herd? Are you going somewhere," Mikey couldn't help asking Diego about his herd, he liked the idea of being in one that didn't have to carry him everywhere over 100ft in the air.

"Yes we're from a herd," Said Diego, in answer to Mikey's curious inquiry into his relationship with these two possums, "we're travelling with everyone else, you know about the flood don't you. It completely destroyed the valley, now everyone's leaving. I don't know where they're going though. Do you know a place?"

Mikey had not been expecting to have his questioned returned to him but he was surprised to know that no one else apparently knew about the green lands beyond the mountain range, had the bird's been that selfish? Maybe the vultures had figured out a way to convince the Sky King to let everyone else perish, it certainly wasn't beyond them to go to such lengths to ensure a feast, especially after what they had planned following the flood. They would have succeeded then were, it not for Corbin's friendship with a surprisingly good natured vulture, if you could call it good nature to give warnings that were constantly laced with a sense of imminent death and foreboding.

realizing how long he had paused to think given, the look on Diego's face, he answered truthfully, promising himself to ask his dad why the Sky King would ignore the needs of the ground dwellers, "Yes I do know somewhere, it's where I'm actually headed. Can I travel with your herd; if you say yes I'll tell you where to go."

Actually this was only a half truth, even though he did indeed know where he was going, it was his father who knew the way they needed to travel to guarantee a safe arrival, however Mikey felt it was necessary to tell this little white lie, if only to guarantee that the other two ding dongs Diego appeared to be stuck with, didn't get into anymore trouble.

It didn't take Diego long to weigh up Mikey's proposal to lead him and the other's to somewhere they might actually be able to settle peacefully in.

"Sure, we'll see what Manny has to say first, but you'd better be telling the truth about this," Diego warned, accepting Mikey's request nonetheless.

"C'mon, I'll carry him but I won't carry you," Diego now turned to Crash and the still unconscious Eddie, who Crash, with help from Mikey, was able to place securely on Diego's back before heading off.

Mikey, remembering that Marlon was still in the tree turned to inform him of the agreement and wasn't the least bit surprised to see the falcon dozing with his head tucked under his right wing but couldn't help finding it a little curious that Corbin was now nowhere to be seen.

"Marlon wake up!" Mikey yelled at the top of the voice, causing Marlon to jump and nearly fall off the branch on which he was napping, letting out loud cry about something to do with pink snow flakes, "We're going with Diego here, he's gonna lead us to his herd. Maybe if we're lucky we'll run into dad on the way!"

Marlon didn't speak, but spread his wings, took off and began circling impatiently overhead, most likely eager to finally have a chance to stretch his wings as he flew above Mikey, Crash and Diego as they began walking toward a large, flood stripped hill leading to the top of a distant cliff face where Diego's herd were apparently waiting.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Journey Begins

As he walked into the clearing, illuminated by the orange mid-afternoon sun shining through the skeletal forms of the bare trees that surrounded it, the first thing Mikey noticed about Diego, Crash and Eddie's herd was how just how bizarre the bunch were.

He noticed the two mammoths first, towering mounds of thick fur, more than a thousand times his size. The larger one, whose hair was a dark, red-brown, was currently trying to comfort the other, slightly smaller, but definitely fatter, orange furred, female, who seemed very distressed and definitely on the verge of tears.

"No need to worry Ellie, they're alright, I found them!" Diego called quickly to the female mammoth, "All in one piece, well sort of."

Crash, immediately upon entering the clearing, leapt onto all fours, sprinted over to the female mammoth, embraced one of her fore-legs and began to comfort her as well, acting as if she were family; his sister almost.

"Diego you found em, thank goodness. See Ellie I told you he didn't eat them," Mikey now saw a medium sized sloth, whose pelt was a strange yellow with a hint of green, except for his front which was a kind of creamy white. He had just walked around from behind the larger male mammoth, Mikey assumed he had been assisting in comforting the female, whose name was apparently Ellie.

"See Diego, they thought you'd eaten them and run off but I'm still on your side and I was right wasn't I," the sloth continued, talking in a light but still masculine tone with a fairly prominent lisp.

"Thanks Sid," Diego complimented the sloth on his apparently friendly gesture, though he sounded as if he didn't exactly like having to thank him for anything.

"Eddie!" began the female mammoth, now noticing the possum, who, although he had woken up on the way there, had remained very punch-drunk and unable to stand up for more than three seconds, a fact made abundantly clear as he slipped from Diego's back and landed in a heap on the yellowing grass.

"What happened Diego, did _he_ actually do something this time?" continued Ellie with immense concern in her voice, also layered with surprise at this apparently absurd thought.

Diego remained silent and looked away in an attempt to avoid eye contact with Ellie, not even taking the chance that his they could give away the answer but he needn't have bothered, almost immediately after Ellie had finished the question, Crash walked right over to him and answered it immediately himself.

"He did it, Diego hit him really hard for no reason," Crash yelled at Ellie, pointing an accusing finger right at Diego, who glared at him and narrowed his eyes, beginning to growl.

Ellie looked at Diego clearly shocked but definitely not disbelieving and began yelling at Diego, who, in turn, began arguing back at her, equally as loud, in a desperate attempt to defend his position. Crash retreated behind Ellie's front, right leg and began yelling extremely crude insults at Diego, in an attempt to support her.

For the first time since Mikey had arrived, the male mammoth finally spoke, yelling at the top of his voice, which was surprisingly not as deep as Mikey had imagined it would be, "Everyone be quiet, please!" he called out, before giving a loud trumpeting with his trunk, causing silence to fall immediately, but Diego, Crash and Ellie did continued to glare silently at each other.

"Ellie I know you care about your brothers, and yes Diego may have over reacted, but you have to remember they have a knack for saying things that are deeply offensive, especially Crash," the Male mammoth began to lecture both parties of the argument, although he didn't sound particularly angry, "He or his brother, probably said something to Diego that made him lash out, since I doubt he would ever do that for no reason."

Ellie looked at Crash, who gave a momentary look of guilt before attempting to hide behind her leg.

"Your right Manny," answered Ellie, before she grabbed Crash with her trunk and dropped him right between herself and Diego, "Spill Crash, did you or Eddie say something to Diego to make him angry enough to hurt you."

Crash merely stood looking from Diego to Ellie utterly terrified and keeping his mouth shut tight. It only then occurred to Mikey, just how small Crash was as he stood between these two much bigger animals, he wasn't even fully grown yet, and, noticing this, Mikey couldn't really blame Crash for his silence. Either way he was going to be punished by something many times his size, it was just a matter of deciding which was worse.

"Crash told Diego to go and take a swim, or something like that," Mikey began, unsure whether what he was doing would help Crash or make it worse, either way, he wanted to get it all over with, "Then Diego seemed to snap and he took a swipe at him with his claws out and everything too, but he missed and hit Eddie. So, yeah, Diego did something wrong as well."

Mikey added the last part quickly after noticing the terrified look Crash gave him, upon giving his testimony to the accusations Crash now faced. Mikey also noticed that everyone in the clearing was now staring right at him, except for Eddie, who had given up trying to walk himself, for the time-being and now lay on his back moaning, most likely waiting for someone to get the message and try to help him up.

"Who the heck are you?" asked Sid, always the first one to speak.

It was not Mikey who answered but the deep authoritative voice of Marlon, apparently from one of the leafless trees above, "That would be Michael, Son of the Sky King and he is not to be addressed in such a way by common groundlings like yourselves."

_(CRASH!)_

Mikey stood, immensely surprised, now finding himself staring at an overturned mound of orange fur, which was Ellie, apparently playing dead.

"Ellie, we worked on this," moaned the Mammoth, apparently named Manny, "It's not going to carry you away, you're not a possum, remember."

Marlon was laughing hysterically unable to help himself, finding Ellie's reaction to his presence unbelievably hilarious.

"Sorry," exclaimed Ellie, as Manny helped her up, by locking trunks with her, and pulling her to her feet, "Force of habit."

"The Sky King? I've never heard of one," exclaimed Sid, speaking to Marlon, sounding just as confused as he always did in these situations, "Are you the Sky King?"

Marlon let out a short chuckle before answering Sid's seemingly ridiculous question, "No, heavens, no, the Sky King is the unquestioned lord and ruler of the sky's everywhere, to which all birds; predators, scavengers and even the plant eater's answer to. I am but one of his closest servants, my name is Marlon and I am his friend and loyal subject. Only the highest level tasks am I charged with."

Marlon was puffing up with pride as he spoke, facing the sky and staring into it, trying his best to seem of great importance and valour, an impression Mikey was only too happy to deflate as quickly as possibly.

"By that, of course, he means he's my babysitter," Mikey cut in, smiling maliciously at him.

"Shut up Michael," snapped Marlon, but it was too late and he quickly began to shrink, realising his moment was gone.

"Yes, I'm the son the Sky King and yes I know I'm not a bird, I'm a possum and proud of it," Mikey continued, now impatient to get going before the sun set and thoroughly sick of people having this reaction whenever he was formally introduced.

Diego was the first to speak again, most likely feeling just the same as Mikey, minus the dramas of being of royalty of course, and also eager to get going.

"If you'd all like to listen for a moment," he began, "Mikey here says that he knows a place where the herds can go, now that the valley's been destroyed. I'm sure you'd all be pretty happy to make a start to somewhere after being stuck here for the past week with very little to eat, I know I am."

He turned to Mikey and looked him straight in the eye before questioning him one last time, "You definitely know a place, right, because a lot of lives depend on this, including my own, and if you're lying, I don't care if you are the son some overrated bird king," Marlon let out a gasp, horrified by the highly treasonous comment the tiger had just made, but Diego ignored him and continued, "I will kill you myself."

Mikey swallowed nervously, suddenly beginning to consider backing out while in the face of the tiger's searching stare. He only knew the direction in which to travel, he didn't actually have a clue as to what lay on the path ahead, not even Marlon knew that, only his father had ever had the knowledge of the way to the Green Lands.

Mikey knew he had to answer, but if he lied and said he could take them there, they'd surely find out at the first crossroad; unless, and it was a very risky thought, they met his father. Then, knowing the Sky King, he would be obligated by the Law of the Talon to help the groundlings regardless, because by being with Mikey, they would be classed as friends of the Sky Royalty and had to be protected at all costs.

"Well?" came Diego's voice, pulling Mikey from his thoughts.

It was a long-shot and it was made even harder by the expectant stares of all the herd members but nonetheless, he took a deep breath, looked Diego straight in the eyes and answered, "Yes, I know the way to the Green Lands, you will find what you're looking for there."

"Great! Ellie did you hear that, a place we can finally stay, probably without a giant melting ice-dam this time. Go tell them Diego, we have to move out as soon as possible, I can't stand being here a minute longer," Manny spoke to Diego, who immediately broke his stare with Mikey and headed out of the clearing.

"Wait where are you going?" asked Mikey, curious as to why Diego would leave, when he was the one the tiger needed to follow.

"To tell the others," Diego answered, stopping momentarily to leap over a fallen log, before continuing.

'_Wait others, what other's, isn't this his herd," _Mikey thought momentarily before, scampering on all fours after Diego to find out what the heck he was talking about.

Nothing could have prepared him for the sight that met his eyes as he pushed his way through and out of a thicket of small bushes, over which, Diego had leapt with ease. In front of him was a massive gathering of animals, survivors of the flood and those whose only source of food had been destroyed when the valley was cracked open, releasing the water into the plains beyond the glacial walls.

Mikey's mouth fell open, his arms falling to his side, leaving him gaping stupidly at the hundreds, possibly thousands of animals, that were gathered here on the large, flat, muddy, plain in front of him, all chattering excitedly or wandering amongst the different herds.

Diego jumped up onto a large fallen tree, in order to get a higher viewpoint and to ensure as many animals as possible could hear him before he let out an incredibly loud roar that echoed into the crowd, causing the swell of animals to fall silent in seconds.

"Everyone, can I have you're attention," Diego bellowed into the crowd as loud as he could, "We have found someone to lead us to a place, a place they claim will cater to our needs for ages to come."

Many of the animals in the crowd began to chatter excitedly and let out loud calls of joy, further demonstrating how long they must have been waiting here for just this moment and causing Mikey a lot more guilt at what could happen to all of them if he were to fail, or the Sky king failed to show up.

Diego let out another loud roar to silence the renewed excited chatter and noise, before continuing, "I know we've been waiting for a while and I'm quite sure we'd like to leave as soon as possible. Manfred want's us to have made some progress before sundown tonight which gives us about five hours to get as far as we can and find a good spot to rest for the night. You have one of those hours to gather you're herds, families and anything you feel you need to bring. Remember you only have one hour, get ready, fast."

Looking out at the thousands of animals, Mikey realised just how many lives were now depending on him and his extremely risky decision. Now he knew exactly what Diego had meant, finding himself unable to fathom what he would do to himself if he failed, let alone what they would do to him and although thousands of much more intelligent terms were now flowing into his mind, only four came together to make any real sense, _'Now i'm royally stuffed.'_


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Bedlam at Breakfast

Eddie let out a massive yawn, before opening his eyes to the early morning once more, quite happy to have woken of his own accord this time, instead of being shot on the nose with small stones.

As anyone does upon awakening, he took a few moments to gather himself out of the morning amnesia, the wonderful few moments when you open your eyes not yet seeing what they receive before you remember the follies of yesterday or in some cases what you did last night.

He looked around at the secluded patch of bare ground the herd had found, behind a rocky outcrop, away from the overcrowded clearings on the other side that were now filled with hundreds of sleeping animals.

The sun hadn't even appeared yet, leaving the entire area bathed in a shadowy glow emanating from over the distant hills where it would soon rise.

Fortunately Eddie was a possum and, even though he'd managed to change his sleeping patterns to night instead of day to suite the rest of the heard, he still possessed the ability to see quite clearly in the cold dimness of his surroundings.

His brother, Crash, was still asleep and snoring very loudly next to him, just like the rest of the herd, except he was hanging upside down, and most likely dreaming about something food related as far as Eddie could tell, from the constant drips of saliva that were falling from his mouth, forming a small puddle on the ground below.

Eddie, reached over and pushed his brother's mouth shut to stop the snoring and drooling, holding it in place for a few seconds to ensure it remained that way before reaching up, grabbing onto the branch from which he was hanging and sleepily climbing across to the tree trunk before sliding down to the ground.

He paused for a moment thinking about what to do until everyone woke up, before walking over to the nearby stream and flopping down onto the bank.

First he took a small drink from the stream, which had turned to be just as the falcon, Marlon, had told the herds, fresh, drinkable water, before he leant backwards and sat down staring at his reflection in the slowly flowing stream and contemplating the events of yesterday.

It had started out pretty early, with Crash attempting yet another of his, usually exciting, daredevil antics but this particular one had turned out be completely ridiculous and suicidal. He'd launched himself off a cliff, repeating the catapulting trick he now called the flying possum that he had previously failed, except this time he hadn't had the help of a boring mammoth, who had been eager to impress their sister, to launch him. This had ended up with him landing in the leafless forest that surrounded the cliff, apparently knocking another young possum named Mikey out of a tree. Luckily Diego found them soon after Eddie did, but Crash had been too quick to pick a fight with the tiger and his relentless taunts had led Diego to accidentally hit Eddie, knocking him unconscious. From that point on everything was a bit hazy; he couldn't even remember how they'd ended up leading the remnants of the valley inhabitants under the guidance of that same Mikey guy and his surprisingly mild minded but egotistical, falcon bodyguard.

The sun was now beginning to peak over the hills bathing Eddie's back with warm sunlight as he sat pondering everything that had happened.

'_Yep yesterday was a big day, but what do I do today, Ellie's not gonna want us out of her sight at all cause of Crash, why'd he have to do that one, we should have rolled around in the mud and tried scaring the aardvark kids again. That was fun the first time, hey, that's sounds like something, I'll tell Crash when he wakes up, they'll never know what hit 'em,"_ Eddie sniggered quietly, with this first, of what would surely be many, chances for mischief today and lay back to continue his train of thought.

Eddie lay by the stream for some time thinking about the day before he was jolted back to reality by loud roar issuing from behind him. Tt could only have come from Diego and from the sound of it he was angry, prompting Eddie to ask himself, _"What has Crash done this time."_

Leaping to his feet Eddie spun around to see what the heck had ticked off Diego so much, a question that was answered almost immediately as he faced the herd.

Diego appeared to have been bound and tied down, very tightly, with several climber vines, Manny and Ellie were struggling to get up after apparently waking up to find their trunks tied together. Sid let out a girlish yell, Eddie noticed that the sloth had been painted with what appeared to be honey and his fur was now crawling with very nasty looking ants.

It was complete pandemonium, Sid was running around the area yelping and trying to brush the ants off but only spreading them further and pushing them deeper into his fur, Manny and Ellie kept getting up, overbalancing and falling over again, while Diego bit and struggled at his bonds trying to rip them but they'd been placed just out of reach of his jaws, all the time more and more animals were appearing from around the rock to see what was going on.

Crash was apparently the only animal not currently bound, tied or slathered in honey and was rolling on the ground at the edge of the dirt patch, laughing uncontrollably at the hilarious spectacle in front of him.

Eddie ran over to him, diving forward to avoid being stepped on by Sid who dropped to the ground and began rolling in a desperate attempt to crush the ants, only ending up having his fur coated in a thick layer of dirt.

"Crash, what did you do," yelled Eddie, grabbing his hysterical brother, who was now practically crying with ecstasy, and trying to hold him still.

"Wha- oh Eddie hi," exclaimed Crash, wiping away a tear with huge grin on his face.

Still chuckling but somewhat calmed by Eddie's arrival, Crash now clutched at his chest attempting to catch his breath and trying desperately to hold back fresh waves of merriment.

"Did you do this Crash, did you pull this prank?" asked Eddie who couldn't help smiling but tried to hold back his own laughter.

"No, I dunno who did it but whoever it was I love them so much I could kiss them right now, hey wha-" Crash began to talk to someone behind Eddie but couldn't continue, breaking down into another fit of hysterics.

Something grabbed Eddie's shoulder, something cold, slimy and wreaking terribly, of what, he didn't want to know, but whatever it was pulled his shoulder and spun him around to face it.

Eddie now found himself staring at what appeared to be a brown, sticky lump with legs that looked vaguely like a possum and it spoke with Mikey's voice.

"Why-the-hell, did you cover me in what I _sincerely_ hope is stagnant swamp mud!" Mikey screamed in Eddie's face, brandishing a fist he clearly wanted to use.

"I-I Di_(snort)_ didn't do-"Eddie sniggered, attempting to answer Mikey while trying to hold back the laughter that was welling up inside of him but found himself unable to continue and collapsed in a surge of hilarity, exactly like his brother.

"Well hardy-ha-ha, morons, now I stink like a dead sloth!" Mikey yelled at the two hysterical brothers, kicking Eddie hard in the stomach before storming over to the stream, into which Sid had just dived, and waded in, beginning to wash the gunk off.

Eddie stood up slowly, still sniggering a little but now grabbing at the area of his stomach that Mikey had kicked, feeling like he would throw up from the force of strike, given where it had hit, and hearing two loud thuds as Manny fell again bringing Ellie down with him.

"Crash, Eddie help, please!" called Ellie trying to pull her trunk away from Manny but this only made the knot tighter.

Although he was loving the chaos, Eddie knew he had to help his sister, she was family after all and he reluctantly obeyed her pleas for help, walking over still clutching his stomach, which definitely felt a little softer after Mikey's kick, to see what he could do.

After a quick examination, Eddie saw that it was a very tight knot that he had thought only himself and his cousin Wilton had known how to do, they had once used it to tie Crash to a branch while he'd been sleeping, but the trouble was Wilton was dead and Eddie knew it. This left only one possibility; that someone other than Eddie or Wilton knew how to tie a knot that _they_ had invented but this was not the time to try to figure it out.

Lucky for Manny and Ellie, knowing how to tie a knot usually meant knowing how to untie it, a feat Eddie was able to perform with ease once they were able to remain still long enough for him to work at it, freeing them from each other.

Once she was free from being tied to Manny by her trunk, Ellie immediately set off toward Crash, who was still laughing his head off and hadn't noticed her approach, and she promptly began to pummel him.

"Ouch, Ellie wai- ow, not there, please, no, ahhhhhhh!" Crashed screamed as Ellie hit him hard, and in a place he wouldn't soon forget.

Eddie laughed unable to stop himself enjoying watching his brother's torment at the hands of their sister, why shouldn't he, Crash deserved it anyway.

"Hey, yeah, no one mind me, I'm just tied on the ground here. Oh did I forget to mention this stupid thing burns!" growled Diego, clearly unhappy at being the only one still trapped by his bonds.

Manny, Ellie and Eddie walked over to see what could be done to free Diego who was growling with pain, whatever the vine that bound him was, it must have been poisonous and this was made very obvious by what Eddie could see of the areas where the bonds lifted Diego's fur, revealing his skin, which appeared to be covered in a painful looking rash.

Eddie's first idea was to see if he could untie the inevitable knots that would have been used to secure the vines, but he was unfortunately unable to see anything even resembling one in the massive tangle that covered Diego, leaving only one choice left that he could think of.

Eddie grabbed a portion of the vine that was stopping Diego from biting it himself, pulled it to his own mouth and prepared to bite through it, beginning to count to three.

One-two-three!

Eddie bit down on the vine, ripping at it with the sharpest of his teeth, almost instantly feeling vine began to break as he chewed and pulled at it, but also feeling another thing, an almost instantaneous, excruciating, burning sensation filled his mouth.

The vine snapped apart within seconds of Eddie biting down on it, but he could hardly care as he ran screaming, from Diego, who instantly began tearing at the vine himself. Eddie ran straight toward the stream which he, upon reaching the water's edge, instantly ducked his head into, gulping down as much water as he could, desperate to stop the burning in his mouth.

His head remained underwater for several seconds before he pulled his head out of the stream and fell on his back moaning, his mouth still burning terribly but his stomach was far too fall of water for him to move.

He heard someone approach from out of the water, and within moments he was staring at Mikey, who had a huge, malicious grin on his face and, Eddie noticed, still smelled terrible.

"Payback's a bitch isn't it," snarled Mikey, before walking away and calling out for Marlon who had yet to be seen by anyone.

Eddie lay on his back, too full and in too much pain to be bothered helping anyone else or to correct Mikey by telling him that neither Crash nor himself had done this to them, but he did wonder, who the heck did do it, who knew something only he and his now, long dead, cousin had known about.

Mikey couldn't believe this, yesterday he'd been woken by Corbin, hit by a flying possum, fought a blood thirsty monster, had part of his tail removed and found himself leading a herd of hundreds, possibly thousands, of animals to a place he only knew the rough direction of but had no idea of the actual path to it.

Today he'd woken to find himself smeared with something he sorely hoped had been stagnant mud and now having washed it off still smelled like a walking corpse, and to make things worse he had no idea where Marlon was.

"What are you looking at, go away you've seen enough!" Diego growled at a group of animals who had wandered over from the main group to see what had happened and were now being chased away by a furious sabre, who had until recently, been tied up with some kind of poisonous weed that had given him a nasty rash.

Crash was limping strangely after having been pummelled by Ellie for laughing at her and Manny, while their trunks had been tied together, instead of trying to help them.

Eddie was now lying next to the stream, after swallowing far too much water in a desperate attempt to stop the burning in his mouth, after having bitten through the poisonous vine that had been used to tie Diego, in order to free him.

"Hey, Manny," Mikey called to Manfred, the large, male, mammoth who was apparently the leader of this little group, "Have you seen Marlon, anywhere, I can't find him."

"No Mikey, I haven't seen him since last night," Manny called back in answer to Mikey's question, as he used his trunk to, carefully, pick up the vines that had bound Diego, and throw them away into the surrounding trees so that no one, especially Sid, could stand on them by accident.

Mikey continued to look up, searching the skies for Marlon, hoping the falcon would turn up soon after just being out to hunt for his breakfast and had escaped this unpleasantness.

Well he was half-right, as he looked east, toward the mountain range from which the sun had risen and was now low in the early morning sky, he saw a large bird who bared a striking resemblance to Marlon.

As it approached Mikey recognised it as actually being Marlon himself and he was carrying something small and furry in his left talon, Mikey didn't really want to look at it but he had to ask Marlon why he had left without telling him.

"Marlon," Mikey called to the falcon as he flew down to land, "Where have you been, you know you're supposed to tell me first before you go on hunts."

Mikey and the rest of the group, including a very sick looking Eddie, watched as Marlon landed and dropped the small thing he had in his talon, amazingly it was a possum, still alive and shaking with terror, which as it raised its head to take one last look at its fate, Mikey noticed was a young female, not much older than himself.

"Marlon, no, you can't eat possums I fo-" Mikey began, but was interrupted by Marlon.

"No Michael, that's your father's promise, I will eat possums whenever I feel like it and you have no authority to order me otherwise, but I didn't bring this to eat. My friends I present to you the perpetrator of your woes," Marlon announced loudly to the group using a wing to point to the possum cowering at his talons, before looking down at it and smiling nastily, "Although I must say, I had to give up my morning hunt for this fugitive, does anyone want me to dispose of it."

"Yes!" Yelled Diego, clearly furious over the rash that the poisonous vines had caused him, which although his orange fur covered it so it wasn't immediately visible, was painful nonetheless.

Mikey also cried out at Marlon, just as he placed a talon over the quivering possum beneath him, preparing to eat it, but to give an order of a very different nature.

"No Marlon, don't, I swear I'll tell the Sky King if you kill her," Mikey yelled at Marlon, desperate to stop him, "I may not _normally _have power over you but you know, anyone of royalty has power in matters of life in death and you are not royalty."

Mikey stopped, he knew he had won, Marlon had to obey him now or the Sky King would have to punish him, harshly.

As he predicted Marlon stepped away from the small possum, glaring furiously at Mikey, not really angry over the loss of his meal but more for the fact that Mikey had just heavily embarrassed him by displaying the power the young possum actually had over him, especially in front of a bunch of_ groundlings! _Mikey could have just asked, he wasn't actually even interested in the possum anyway, it was just to be a little showy, but no Mikey had gone straight for the power of royalty thing. He could barely control himself, taking up all his mental will just to make sure he didn't attack Mikey for his thoughtless insult right then and there.

Mikey walked over to the terrified female, careful to maintain eye contact with Marlon, he'd only seen him in this kind of mood once before and he had proven wildly unpredictable when like this. Slowly and steadily, constantly meeting Marlon's furious stare, Mikey reached down and pulled the possum to her feet and began to walk her away from the falcon, whispering to her to remain silent and do as he did.

With only a single twitch of his wing as a warning, Marlon's wings flew open to their full extent and Mikey froze, preparing to drop and run toward the nearest source cover he could find.

Marlon took off flying straight at Mikey, who threw the female to the ground as fast as he could and dived away to avoid Marlon's outstretched talons, which only missed by a hairs length, Mikey could tell this apparent misjudgement had been deliberate, if Marlon had wanted to kill him, he would have.

Rolling onto his back Mikey was just in time to see Marlon soaring away as fast as he could fly and something about the manner of his departure told, Mikey that he was not turning back, for anything.

"Whoa, that's what I call jealousy issues," Mikey heard Sid announce from somewhere nearby.

Ignoring Sid's unbelievably inappropriate comment, Mikey found himself returning to almost the same state of mind in which he had been what seemed like only moments ago, counting up the things that had gone wrong so far in the past two days and how he could now add, lost the only person here who actually knew him, to that list.

It had only taken mere moments and an impulsive decision to say something Mikey probably didn't even need to say, for him to successfully lose the only connection that had remained of everything that he had called his life, and now as he got up, he stared at the female possum who had already recovered from being roughly thrown to the ground, and was now looking around nervously at all the strangers that now surrounded, her, the reason why they had all had such a cruddy morning, and thought

'_Was her life really worth it?'_


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The Friend, The Cousin, The Uncle 

Wilton's Final Hour 

It was snowing lightly as the sun began to set, the ice age had well and truly set in now and the entire world seemed to be covered in a fine white powder that seemed to shine a brilliant golden yellow, as the sun disappeared and twilight set in.

Sarah was standing beneath a strange, mammoth shaped tree, looking up at the family that appeared to live there and watching as her uncle, Wilton, and his much younger, ten year old, cousin, who she'd come to know as Eddie, were tying the kid's twin brother, Casey, to the branch from which he was hanging, fast asleep.

"Casey won't be happy about this you know, he already cops heaps from the other kids," Sarah called up to them, unable to fathom what drove so many animals to be so unnecessarily cruel to Casey, "and I don't think Amy will be too pleased either. She was furious when you buried him under that snow drift last week; it took her ages to find him you know, and Wilton, your twenty-two, surely you'd be over this kind of stuff by now. "

Wilton and Eddie merely sniggered with this reminder of their previous prank, sure Eddie's mom hadn't fed him for a day and half, and had told Wilton to stay away from him, but it had been totally worth it as far they were concerned. After all no one liked Casey anyway, everyone except Sarah perhaps, who seemed particularly tolerant of Casey's unnusual problem.

"There," exclaimed Wilton quietly, as he finished tying Casey's tail to the branch, "Just wait till he wakes up, it'll be great.

Eddie chuckled at the thought of his brother trying in vain to untie his tail while hanging upside down and pictured his brother falling from the branch, landing with his head in the snow; the inevitable result should Casey somehow work out how to untie the knot.

Sarah watched the two pranksters climb down the tree and begin to cover themselves in snow, to avoid being seen by Casey when he woke up and found his tail tied to the branch and it didn't take very long for Sarah to find herself looking at what appeared to be two lumps of snow, with eyes that were focused completely on Casey, who was now beginning to wake up.

With a large yawn and only a quick look around to make sure there were no predators about, Casey reached up to the branch and attempted to climb over to the tree trunk, but ended up only reaching half way before he was stopped by his knotted tail.

"Hey what the heck?" he exclaimed, looking back and pulling his tail in an attempt to dislodge it before trying to turn around and climb back over to see why his tail was stuck, tripping over it in the process and ending up dangling beneath the branch again, looking extremely confused.

Sarah couldn't help laughing, even though she felt a little bad for Casey, his continuos attempts to climb back up to the branch only to fall back again were undeniably funny.

"Is that you Sarah," Casey called down to her, now noticing the small female standing beneath him, "Did you do this?"

"No Casey, I didn't," Sarah called back to him, listening to the sniggers emanating from the two small, snowy, lumps at the base of the tree, while trying to hold back her own laughter, "Hang on I'll help you."

Sarah ran through the snow toward the tree, throwing up puffs of white powder as she went, and began climbing up to help out Casey, who had given up trying to hold onto the branch and was now swaying in the wind with his arms folded and sulking.

Lucky for Casey, Sarah had also learned how to tie and untie the knot her uncle had used, after watching him do it time and time again on anything that could be tied, but as she untied the knot she failed, not completely by accident, to tell Casey to hold onto the branch first.

Instantly after Sarah pulled the last tangle in the knot, it began to unravel, far too quickly for Casey to grab on to anything and he ended up falling from the tree, landing head first in the two foot deep snow, just as Eddie had predicted; causing Eddie himself and Wilton to burst out of the cover under which they were hiding and explode into hysterical laughter.

Sarah climbed back down and walked over to Casey, who had, by now pulled his head out up and now sat in the snow sobbing looking utterly pathetic, which Sarah didn't find remotely amusing.

Upon reaching him, feeling immensely guilty for falling in with her uncle's plan, she attempted to put a comforting arm around Casey, who immediately pushed her away and began to run, on all fours, into the snowy evening. Sarah feeling somewhat responsible for his misery, instantly ran after him calling for him to stop, but she couldn't keep up in the snow and kept tripping, each time getting a face-full of the white powder.

Suddenly, as she tripped for what felt like the hundredth time, watching Casey get further and further away, she felt something grab her, hard, and push her downward, forcing her deeper into the snow.

"Stay still Sarah, don't move, play dead!" she heard her uncle's voice yelling, although she didn't know why he was saying it, she could tell he was not joking.

She didn't look up, playing dead just as her uncle had said and remained perfectly still trying not to shiver to much while lying in the freezing snow, all she heard was the snow crunching as her uncle Wilton ran off after Casey, most likely to get him to do the same.

Somewhere above she heard, what could only be a hawk call, echoing into the cold night air, filling her with immense terror, not for herself but for Casey, and what would happen if the hawk spotted him.

The question was answered almost immediately by a soft thud, of something hitting the snow, hard, followed by the sound of wings flapping nearby and the sickening, wet, ripping, sound of flesh being severed from a body, which was accompanied by someone's horrific, almost unreal, screams of suffering but these lasted only seconds before another awful ripping noise silenced them, permanently.

Sarah lay in the snow for what seemed like hours but, in actuality, it had only been about a minute, before she heard the flapping noises of the hawk taking flight, most likely carrying the mutilated body of its unfortunate victim, and deciding to wait while more before she felt it was safe to stand up to view the damage. First she looked around to see if the hawk was still around, though why it had been out this late astounded her, she had to be sure it wasn't about to swoop in and eat her.

Once she was satisfied that there was nothing to fear anymore, she brought her gaze downward to find out who had been killed. Although she didn't believe it, she kept trying to convince herself, the whole time, that the sounds she had heard had all been a figment of her imagination, conjured up by her mind through the terror of the moment and that no one was dead, injured or currently being picked to pieces somewhere out of sight.

Sarah looked to the tree first, to see if Eddie was okay, immensely relieved, she saw him sitting in the snow unmoving, with his mother hugging him for some unknown reason and his strange orange furred sister standing next to him. Over their mother's shoulder, Sarah could see Eddie was staring, his gaze transfixed on something immediately behind her.

She turned around slowly, even though she didn't want to see it, she had to, someone was dead, most likely having their flesh torn from their bones, in a tree somewhere right now, feeding a hawk who must have been out, hunting for a last meal before settling down for the day.

She didn't close her eyes, it would have been useless because upon opening them she would have seen the same sight, at which she now gazed, anyway.

Casey was still lying in the snow, unmoving, but still breathing, Sarah could see his chest rising and falling, but between them, only a feet from where she had been hiding, was a patch of snow which had been stained a deep red by blood. On which she could see a couple tiny pieces of what had to be flesh, the sight of which was nauseating and yet, she found, she couldn't look away.

There was only one person missing from the picture, her uncle, Wilton, whose fate was immediately obvious and, for her, unbearable.

Without any further thought about where she was headed or what she was going do to, Sarah tore her gaze from what, of what had once been, her only living uncle and, ever since her mother's death, the only person she had left of her immediate family and began to run, as fast as she could. Away from it, away from Casey and Eddie, away from the scene of the stupid prank that had cost Wilton his life and away from everything that she now, from this moment onward, abhorred.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Love and Loss

Mikey turned away from the female possum, which he didn't know nor cared about, but had probably just saved her life and without a single word, he walked away toward Diego.

"Tell them to be ready in five minutes, we'll be leaving then," Mikey ordered with immense anger showing in his voice, before immediately walking away and sitting beneath one of the leafless trees that surrounded the group.

Although Diego clearly didn't like the fact that this possum seemed to think he had power over him as well, he didn't feel like staying either and with a quick look toward Manny for approval, which was given in the form of a quiet nod, Diego dashed off to inform the rest of the herds.

Manny and the others began, silently, preparing to leave; a nearby roar emanated from somewhere behind the rocky outcrop, sounding the beginning of Diego's announcement and was almost immediately followed by a lot of tired sounding, grumbles as the animals began to wake up.

Eddie walked over to the small female, who was currently sitting and looking around nervously, clearly frightened by the much bigger animals that now surrounded her, but not sufficiently fearful to warrant playing dead just yet, it didn't take long for her to notice him.

As he approached, Eddie could see that she was pretty much standard as far as possums go, with the usual three beige rings around her body and the remaining surface being covered in dark brown fur, but with a distinctly feminine look about her. However the one feature he couldn't help noticing was her dazzling, emerald-green eyes, which seemed to sparkle brightly in the sunlight as he approached; there was no lying, she was beautiful.

"Hi," Eddie opened with the most non-threatening greeting he could think of, "I'm Eddie."

"Are they your friends?" the female replied, asking one of the first things Eddie would've expected and pointing at Manny, Ellie, Sid, Crash and Mikey.

"Ahh ,yeah, wait, not Mikey, I don't know him that well," Eddie answered, strange thoughts beginning to surface in his mind almost as if he recognised this possum somehow even though he was sure he'd never met her before.

"What about that tiger, how come he doesn't eat them," the female continued to question Eddie's bizarre choice of companions.

"Oh Diego, yeah he's cool, well sort of, he does lay into me and Crash sometimes, but it's kinda fun to annoy him; it's great when we're bored," Eddie answered the second question and, unable to shake the feeling that he knew this female from somewhere he had to ask, "Have we met before, I bet I don't remember cause Diego knocked me out yesterday, I still feel a little weird from that one."

"Eddie c'mon we gotta go, Mikey says the next stop could be ages away, we have to hurry if we wanna get there before dark!" Ellie was calling from the edge of the small clearing in which the group had been sleeping, until their rude awakening.

"Are you travelling with anyone?" Eddie asked the female as he turned to follow his sister.

"No, I'm on my own," the female answered, "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah, Mikey's leading the herd to someplace called the Green Lands, you wanna come with us?" Eddie couldn't help asking, sure it was probably the right thing to do as well, but there was no denying it, he definitely liked the idea of having a female of his own species around for once, and there was no passing up someone as stunning as her, "The others will be fine with it, I bet you didn't have anything to do with what happened earlier anyway."

She stopped to consider his proposal for a moment before answering, "Well, okay, I guess it'll be better than being on my own all the time. My name's Sarah by the way."

Sarah got up and followed Eddie who had already started toward Ellie as she began to leave the clearing; strangely, Crash was no where to be seen.

"Hey Ellie, can Sarah come with us?" Eddie asked as he caught up to his sister as they left the trees and walked out into sunny, yet still very muddy, plane that they were apparently following at Mikey's direction.

Ellie stopped and looked around at Eddie, who was standing next to the female possum Marlon had brought to them and had claimed was perpetrator of the prank they had all suffered earlier.

"What, why? I thought Marlon said she did it," she began, referring to the unpleasant wake up call they had all suffered, curiously except for Eddie and Crash.

"Yeah but I saw the knot that got used on you and Manny's trunks, I doubt she knows how to tie it, only m- I mean only a couple of people know how to tie one," Eddie had to stop himself from revealing that, as far as he knew, only he knew how to tie it and even though he knew he wasn't responsible for the prank, Ellie probably wouldn't see it that way, "Plus you know what birds are like, if they think there's food in it for 'em they'll say anything."

Eddie could see his sister was working it all out, it was a few moments before she responded, "Alright but you know what Manny's like, and Diego too, you're going to have to show them a reason to keep her," Ellie answered, clearly accepting the arrangement, after all, once her brother's were set on something it was pretty pointless to argue anyway, unless of course you get trapped in a cave and have to shove them through a small hole and tell them to get help, then they might see reason. but that also depends on whether they like you or not.

"C'mon Sarah, that means you're in," Eddie told Sarah, before climbing up onto his sister's back and gesturing for her to do likewise.

Sarah looked at Ellie for approval first, Eddie could tell she wasn't exactly sure about his sister yet, so he decided to help out by giving his sister taste of the puppy-dog eyes he'd been working on for the past week.

They worked like a charm worked like a charm and Ellie let out a sigh, "Fine," she answered, giving in to Eddie's request, if only to avoid having to face several hours of non-stop whining from him.

Sarah quickly climbed up Ellie's tail with ease and sat down behind Eddie, who was giving a short victory chuckle.

"Hey Ellie, where's Crash?" asked Eddie curious as to why his brother was not already sitting with him on his sister's back.

"He's upfront with Manny, I think it's because I hit him earlier," Ellie answered, beginning to lumber forward with the herd, which was already beginning to form a long line of grumbling animals.

"He, he. Where'd ya hit him, sis?" Eddie couldn't help asking, sniggering as he did so, already quite sure of the answer.

"Do you really have to know?" Ellie responded, clearly not going to tell him, but her lack of an answer said it all, really, what else would make Crash put so much distance between himself and Ellie.

Sarah laughed a little, slightly amused too, even if she hadn't seen the event, she couldn't help it.

* * *

The days dragged on as the herd made its way over the drying mud, the late spring days were now pretty hot and the humidity was terrible, thanks mostly to the evaporating flood water as it rose from the muck. The bare trees became incredibly sparse as the previous forest had given way to vast fields of muddy grassland, which was definitely recovering much faster than the forests since large patches of green grass now dotted the relatively flat landscape. 

Since the muddy plain continuosly refused to present any sheltered resting spots, the herds now had to sleep in the open at night, and this meant night watchers were necessary. Eddie and Sarah, as nocturnal possums, had proven to be the perfect candidates for this duty, unfortunately this left Eddie extremely tired during the day, and the lack of communication between himself and Crash only served to further aggriviate his already strained temper.

Mid-afternoon on the fifth day of the journey and Eddie was now bored out of his mind and on his last nerve, with no doubt in his head that his brother had somehow found a way to entertain himself without him, he always did.

In light of the fiasco several days ago, Ellie had forbid her brothers leaving her sight at any time and since Crash was safely upfront with Manny, Diego and Mikey; she seemed to have thought it best to watch Eddie herself. This strategy of keeping the two separated was working perfectly, unfortunately this left Eddie with very little to do, since it was Crash who had all the ideas.

He was now sitting on his sister's back, having a thumb war with the latest edition to the herd, Sarah.

"3-4-5, I win!" Sarah yelled happily, announcing what had to have been her hundredth victory and letting go of Eddie's incredibly sore hand.

"You didn't have to hold it so hard, I think it's broken," Eddie whined, looking at his swollen finger which was now aching terribly, "Plus you counted too fast that time, so it's a tie."

"No I didn't, you're just grumpy cause I'm a girl and I beat you," shot Sarah, still smiling happily, relishing her latest triumph.

"What do you think, Ellie?" Eddie called to Ellie, confident that, as his sister, she would definitely agree with him.

Unfortunately for him, Ellie had actually taken a liking to Sarah, most likely because Eddie's earlier argument had been right, she liked finally having another female to talk to now, after having being stuck in an all-male group for the past few weeks.

"I think she's right, you're just jealous," Ellie called up in agreement with the Sarah.

Eddie turned away from Sarah's smug grin, grumbling incoherently, and lay on his stomach, staring forward, toward the front of the long line of travelling animals that he and his siblings had become stuck with.

"Hey," he heard Sarah say from behind him, "What are you staring at? Did a glyptodont roll over again?"

Eddie felt Sarah lying down next to him, although it most likely to get the same view point as him, Eddie couldn't help feeling little uncomfortable with how close she was.

He could feel her fur touching his, and even more strangely he didn't exactly hate it, in fact he sort of liked it.

He slowly let his gaze slide sideways toward Sarah, watching her staring ahead, vainly searching for the non-existent source of Eddie's previous non-interest, completely oblivious to the fact that he was now staring at her, with a small, unconscious, smile on his face.

A sudden jolt pulled Eddie from his stupor, drawing his gaze forward again he now noticed that the herd had stoped and that the jolt had been Ellie doing likewise.

"Hey Eddie can you see what's going on up there," Ellie called up to his brother, who had now stood up on her back, a little glad to have something to distract him from Sarah.

All he saw was an immensly long, unmoving, line of animals ahead of them, giving him absolutely no view of what was happening at the front of the group, to have made the herd stop so suddenly.

Suddenly it hit him, this was perfect, if he played his cards right, this would provide the perfect opportunity to get away from his sister and hopefully reunite with Crash.

"I can't see anything sis, tell you what, I'll go up and check it out," Eddie called back to his sister, before immediately sliding down her side and setting of into the crowd toward the front of the herd, without giving Ellie a chance to answer.

However before he had even taken 4 steps, a large and furry object, that could only be Ellie's trunk quickly wrapped around his body and pulled him back.

"Not so fast!" Ellie yelled at Eddie, as she dropped him, face first, onto the ground in front of her, "You're not getting away that easily. Whatever it is I'm sure Manny and Diego can handle it, you'll probably just make it worse."

Eddie got up, brushing the dirt from his fur, thankfully the ground had dried throughout the day and he hadn't ended up slathered in mud.

"What if they're in trouble and they need our help?" he asked, although this was definitely not going to work, it was the only thing he could think of.

"What the heck are you supposed to do, you're too sm-" she began to answer Eddie's question, sounding a little more annoyed than the situation warranted, but he cut in before she could finish.

"HAWK!" Eddie cried, as loud as he could, pointing into the sky behind Ellie, who immediately swung around as fast as her large body would allow, knocking over a bunch of small, short–nose, things and hitting several other animals in the tightly packed group.

Before she had even finished turning around, Eddie was well on his way, sprinting on all fours, weaving through the legs of all the larger animals, as he sped toward the front of the herd, laughing out loud over the success of his cunning ploy.

Ellie may have been smart enough to see through Eddie's first escape attempt, but after years of living with her possum brothers, she still feared birds of prey, a weakness Eddie had been quick to exploit and to great effect.

After several minutes of running, not quite flat-out, Eddie finally made it to the front of the enormous crowd. After pushing his way through a bunch of anteaters, he fell onto his hands and knees, panting heavily and feeling like he was about to pass out from sheer exhaustion.

"The possum is weary it would seem. How challenging it can be, to escape those who know you best, tricks and cunning can save those who think, but running can save rest," to his surpriseEddie now heard the unmistakable voice of the raven, Corbin, who was obviously referring to him, "The groundlings stands alone? Abandoned his friends or is it they who abandoned he, never matter. The Sky king does wonder though, if Michael has appeared not in lead, as the Raven had promised. Does the groundling know of reason for this most concerning absence?"

As he got up Eddie noticed several things, firstly it wasn't hard to see Corbin, sitting in the branches of a single, small, tree growing a few metres from him, standing right in front of a large, steep cliff, that split the plain in two. Secondly Eddie also noticed that Corbin was not alone, the tree's many branches not only held the shoots of new leaves but also contained about eight different birds.  
From what he could see, there were two falcons, one of which was Marlon, the other was a complete stranger, but something about it told him it was female. On a neighbouring branch stood three hawks, their eyes were, thankfully, not focused on Eddie himself but appeared to be scanning the crowd, but for what he had no idea.  
The three remaining birds were standing on the highest branch of the tree, surprisingly, he recognised all of them. To the left was Corbin, looking thoroughly bored, his mind off somewhere else, as usual, and to the right was the very vulture who had, barely a month ago, given a fateful warning saving the lives of thousands of animals from a flood that had virtually obliterated the valley in which Eddie's family, and apparently Manny's group as well, had been living.

Neither of these two were particularly frightening, but it was between them that stood a sight that filled Eddie with a terror that far outstripped anything, any of the other birds could have caused.

On the branch, between Corbin and the vulture, stood the largest, toughest looking hawk, Eddie had ever seen. The winged beast stood almost two inches taller than any of the hawks or falcons and sported a coating of mainly light grey feathers, except for its wings, which were a much darker grey. He instantly recognised its plumage as being that of the hawk who had appeared several days ago, when Crash had been preparing for his latest attempt at the 'flying possum'.

Eddie immediately turned to run back into the crowd of, equally surprised, animals behind him.

"Don't even think about," came a loud, clear voice, Eddie recognised as belonging to the larger hawk, mainly because of the accent, which was in its case a strong English one.

However, in direct defiance of the hawk's warning, Eddie began to sprint straight back into the crowd, almost instantaneously hearing the unmistakable sound of wings flapping, as one, or more, of the birds in the tree took off, most likely in his pursuit.

Running as fast as his legs could carry him, Eddie, once again, found himself ducking, diving and sliding to avoid the limbs of the other animals around him and hoping desperately that their, much larger, silhouettes would provide some cover, lest the predator above catch, and most likely, kill him.

Pushing his way through a bunch of small, grey, waddling things, Eddie burst out of the crowd and found himself running across open ground, only realising far to late that there had obviously been a bend in the path, he had missed in his frantic rush to escape and, in a desperate attempt to correct this, Eddie made the terrible mistake of stopping right in the middle of open ground and spinning around to make his way back into the protective cover of the herd.

As he ran back toward the group of startled animals, he heard the bird above cry out victoriously, with a call that could only belong to a falcon, and begin its dive toward him.

Although he continued to run frantically toward his, foolishly abandoned, cover, Eddie knew it was too late and barely a second after the falcon had begun its dive, Eddie was slammed to the ground, extremely hard, by the force of the bird's dive.

Strangely enough, what was sure to be his last thoughts weren't centred on Ellie or his family, but he suddenly found himself thinking about how he hadn't had the chance to enjoy one of the fundamental experiences of life, he'd never had a mate and, even more strangely, he began to see Sarah, an admittedly attractive female that, over the past few days, he'd managed to learn nothing about, as a missed opportunity.

* * *

Mikey now stood in front of two animals, who, up until now, had placed their very survival in his hands, and staring up at them as they gazed back at him, waiting for him to explain himself. 

It had been over five-and-a-half days since the herd had set off to continue its journey, and now, as he had dreaded, they had been stopped at a fork, where a narrow cliff seemed to split the huge, sparsely vegetated plain, in half.

From his view point, Mikey had been able to see that the cliff was actually the beginning of a large range of extremely steep hills, that seemed to continue off into the distance, until it eventually connected with the far-off mountain ranges, which now formed the entire horizon.

In choosing the correct path, the herd would obviously reach the haven they so desperately sought but if he went the wrong way, he was sure they would eventually reach an impassable wall of mountains, and that would spell doom for all the animals following him.

Now Marlon that had left him, because of the deep insult Mikey had unintentionally caused him to save the life of a worthless female possum, a decision Mikey now greatly regretted, since Marlon had been the only other creature, apart from Mikey's father, who knew the way to the Green Lands and his departure had left Mikey to lead the herd with only a rough idea of the direction.

Thankfully, most of the other trailing herds had merely seen this halt as a merciful act on his part, giving them time to rest a while. All except for the small, mixed species, group, who had apparently taken up a leadership position in the herd just before Mikey had met them.

After seeing that there was no way he could make the decision on his own, Mikey had lead them away from the main herd so that he could explain his predicament to them without alarming the other animals.

"Well?" asked Manny, snapping Mikey back into the present, eager to find out what was so important.

"Umm," Mikey began uneasily, trying to think on his feet, of a soft way to break the news to them, "You know, how I said I could lead you guys to the Green Lands."

"Yeah what about it?" Diego spoke now in a voice clearly intended to intimidate, and taking a few steps toward Mikey, "Wait, were you lying?"

"Well yes and no," Mikey continued nervously, taking a few steps backward, away from Diego, who was beginning to growl furiously, "I mean I do know the direction of the Green Lands, but I, er, forget to tell you that I don't know the exact way to get there."

"What? How could know the direction but not know the way?" exclaimed Manny, not exactly accusingly but definitely confused by the strange manner in which Mikey was speaking, "Do you know the way or not."

"I mean I know the direction to travel but I don't know the path to get there. I don't know which side of that of cliff I'm supposed to take," Mikey once again attempted to explain the situation to the others but still wound up sounding just as confusing as before.

Diego, clearly tired of the possums ridiculous explanations, began to advance on Mikey, unsheathing his claws as he approached and once again looking Mikey straight in the eye, just like he had done when the possum had first offered to lead the herds.

Stopping barely a foot from Mikey, who now found himself face to face with the same tiger that had only yesterday threatened to kill him if this kind of situation occurred, Diego questioned him one last time, "No stupid games, do you know the way or not!"

Mikey swallowed with fear and opened his mouth to answer, desperately trying to think of something to say. If he lied and ended up leading the group the wrong way, he'd be responsible for thousands of deaths but if he told the truth, Diego would literally skin him alive, there really was no safe answer and there was no way to run. That tiger would definitely catch him before he'd even taken two steps, unless, of course, something distracted Diego, if only for a moment.

"Grrr, Tell me," demanded Diego, taking up a pouncing stance, ready to kill Mikey if he tried to run.

Although It was incredibly stupid, and un-possum like, but it was his only chance, and Diego was just close enough fo him to try it; without warning, Mikey leapt straight toward the tiger and sunk his teeth deep into Diego's right foreleg, taking the tiger completely by surprise and giving him a very clear reminder that, although they were small, possum's still had very sharp teeth.

Diego, gave out a deafening roar of pain and surprise, it had definitely been the last thing he had expected, and from his yells, Mikey could tell it definitely hurt a heck of a lot more than a tickle.

After several seconds of desperately attempting to shake the surprisingly vicious possum off, Mickey's teeth finally came loose and he was sent flying, landing more than twenty metres away, quite an impressive throw from Diego actually.

Relishing the success of his highly unorthodox act of desperation, Mikey instantly rolled over and sprinted off, not really caring where he was going, as long as it led away from Diego, not even bothering to look back to see if the tiger was actually pursuing him.

Several minutes and several hundred metres later, the adrenaline rush of the whole thing had completely worn off and Mikey, collapsed onto the dry mud plain, his heart pounding heavily in his chest and panting madly for air as breath after laboured breath failed to fulfil his need.

Mikey had definitely overstretched himself this time, he was far too weak to move, no matter how hard he tried, he was forced to lie there panting and desperately hoping that no one had followed him.


	9. Chapter 8

I am sorry about the author's note, I really hate to break the flow of the story, but I chose to give the vulture a name since he doesn't appear to have one (check the IMDB page if you don't believe me) and I thought he needed one for the story, and Chase sounded pretty fitting (it means "hunter"). I would like to make it very clear that this does not qualify as taking the character as my own, for he is not, he belongs to the writers of Ice Age: The Meltdown, and if anyone knows his actual name I would be really happy to change the story accordingly.

Chapter 8

The Sky King

With a soft, rustling the falcon landed lightly on the bare ground, and Eddie immediately felt the pressure on his body being relieved, as the bird opened its right talon, releasing the possum it had previously held in an unbreakably tight grip. He continued to lie limp and seemingly lifeless, even thought he was sure it was useless right now, playing dead was the only thing he could do.

"My king, I have retrieved it for you, but I'm afraid I was unable catch sight of you're son while in flight," the falcon, who, Eddie now recognised form its voice, as Marlon, was obviously speaking to the giant Hawk, "Shall I join Mallory and Raoul in the search?"

"No, there's no need to help them," answered the Hawk, his accent making it obvious that it was indeed him to whom Marlon was speaking, "I want to widen the search. You will investigate the fields further south, and please be thorough; you know how well he can hide when he's frightened. Galloway, go with him."

Eddie could here the sounds of the two birds taking off to search for their target, who had apparently disappeared; all the while trying to remain as still as possible, taking the shallow breaths to avoid being given away and wondering who it was the birds were searching for.

"Corbin, you tell me these possums may have met my son recently, am I right?" the Hawk, who must have been the Sky King that Mikey had been talking about, now appeared to be talking to Corbin, who was still in the tree, apparently.

"May, is a possibility, great king, and it has no place here, for the raven speaks of certainty, Michael did dwell in the presence of these groundlings. Do you seek their council to find what you have lost? Know them not, does the raven, but he does not doubt their use," Corbin answerd in his usual emotionless voice.

'_They!' _thought Eddie, maintaining complete silence, _'Someone else is here? Oh no, did they get Sarah, wait, she's with Ellie, there's no way they could get her, could they? Wait, Crash! They must have Crash too. Oh man, I hope he's alright.'_

The silence around him, broken only by the chattering birds, could only mean that if Crash was the other possum that they were talking about then he was either playing dead just like Eddie or they could have done something terrible to him.

"Chase," spoke the voice of the Sky King, to who he was referring, Eddie could only guess.

"What, Marcus," he now heard the unmistakable voice of that creepy vulture, apparently Chase was his actual name, "Don't look at me like that, you're no king to me."

"As you have already made abundantly clear," responded the Sky King, whose name was apparently Marcus, sounding curiously amused by the vulture's incredible lack of respect, "I actually appreciate that you appear to be considerate enough to at least remember my name after what I did, again you were right."

The vulture let out a small sigh of disappointment; he had apparently been hoping for a more aggressive response, "What do you want?"

"Well as I have no _royal_ power over you, might I ask, as an ally, that you attempt to find out anything that you can from this crowd," something in Marcus' voice at the word royal, told Eddie that, even if it wasn't royal power, the Sky King clearly had something to give Chase, a reason to obey him, "Feel free to use whatever methods you deem necessary, and take Corbin as well, he will be able to tell you who to, _interrogate_."

Again Eddie heard the sound of a pair of birds taking off on their given errands, although the Chase's growl clearly showed his reluctance to follow through with this. It had to be about the blackmail Marcus' had just used on him, since he really couldn't see a vulture saying no to a chance for trouble.

'_Mikey's the Sky King's kid and he's gone! What's gonna happen now, I don't know anything about where he is. What do I do! What happened to Crash, did they already beat him up. Is he alright,'_ all of these thoughts and more came rushing into Eddie's head, as he lay face-down on the ground.

Suddenly he felt the, three clawed, talon of some bird of prey wrap itself around him and spin, rolling him onto his back, before it was place gently over his body.

"Give it up, possum, I can feel you're breathing and besides you're body is far too warm to be dead, given how long you have been here," for the first time, Eddie heard the voice of the female falcon, coming from right above him, and now realising that he had completely forgotten about her.

For the first time since he had been dropped in this place, Eddie opened his eye, but was sorely tempted to close them again upon seeing the face of the falcon, whose name he did not know, standing over him with one, taloned, foot placed directly on his chest.

Most likely to put him at ease, the falcon immediately removed her talon from his chest and took a few steps backwards, away from him.

Now free of the momentary restriction of the falcon's talon, Eddie slowly pushed pulled himself into sitting position, carefully avoiding any sudden movements so as to prevent looking as if he was about to run away again, and this was definitely something he wanted to avoid, given what had happened when he had attempted it the first time.

Gazing around to take in his surroundings, he first he believed himself to have been dropped somewhere in the mud plain, but at a second glance he realised that his surrounding were rocky, not dry mud, there were plenty of shrubs around and looking to his right he noticed that the ground seemed to fall away, to a vast brown expanse dotted with green patches. It was obvious to him now, that he had been brought to the top of the cliff, apparently his captors hadn't wanted to do whatever they had planned for him, in front of the other animals and this was definitely not a comforting thought.

He noticed that the Sky King, Marcus, was perched atop a large boulder that seemed to spear up into the air from the surrounding rocks, which were spreading a dark shadow over the cliff top, spread by the late-afternoon sun.

He looked to the, slightly smaller, falcon and noticed that she wasn't gazing at him like Marcus was; but instead, she had entered a large crevice in the rock and was now rummaging around in the darkness for some unseen object.

From inside, Eddie heard someone give out a yawn, mumble incoherently to the falcon and then a thud of something very soft being hit hard by something which accompanied by a yelp of pain and surprise.

The falcon soon emerged from the crevice, looking slightly agitated and talking back to the person who was now emerging from the hole behind her, "If I ever here something so vulgar from you again, I'm going to rip something off, understand?"

"('Groan') sure, just please don't kick me there again, it's already been tenderised you know," came the voice of the other figure, which Eddie recognised immediately.

"Crash!" he cried in surprise, a little louder than he had intended.

"Eddie!" Crash returned, equally as loud, walking around the falcon to get a view of his brother.

It had been almost a week since the two had been together, thanks largely to Ellie, and Eddie couldn't be happier to be reunited with his, thankfully uninjured, brother and, although Crash attempted avoid it by sidestepping to his right, his brother once again, gripped him in a tight hug.

"Eddie, get off!" Crash yelled, as he pulled himself from Eddie's grip, causing his brother to over balance and fall backwards.

Looking toward a clearly unamused, Marcus and, remembering Mikey's first impression of them, Crash acted quickly to explain, "We're, we're not, ahh, well, you know. He's my brother, you see, but he can get kind of, umm, _emotional_."

"I really don't care about your preferences, just answer my questions honestly and I will ensure that you are returned to your friends, unharmed," Marcus began, clearly eager to get to the point, "Marlon, tells me that you happened upon my son about a week ago. Is this true?"

Eddie pulled himself into sitting position, next to his brother, who answered instantly, "Yeah we did, what's it to you?"

The hawk narrowed his eyes in a malevolent glare toward Crash, clearly unimpressed with the immense disrespect he was being shown by such a puny animal.

Eddie felt himself shrinking under the furious stare, even though it wasn't directed at him and longing for somewhere to hide, but, surprisingly, Crash stood fast and returned the hawk's glare, staring directly back into his eyes.

"Oooh, scary," Crash commented, mockingly, thoroughly unintimidated by the hawk's attempt to frighten him.

Marcus, drew himself to full height, without ever once breaking the eye contact he had, but returning to a more passive demeanour before he asked the next question, "Very well, a yes, then. I would also like to know if it is true that he has been travelling with you and this herd, Corbin tells me he was leading you, is this true as well?"

The hawk continued to gaze at the two possums, unthreateningly this time, acting almost as if Crash hadn't said anything at all except the answer to his question.

"Yeah, he did, but I don't know where he is. First he asks to see Manny and Diego in private, for some reason, leaving me with Sid and that bunch of short-noses. Next thing I know, one of your guys dives at me, and I can't remember anything after that, you can thank her for that one," Crash answered, pointing toward the falcon, who had been quietly standing on one of the nearby rocks and looking out over the herd as some kind of sentry.

Eddie noticed that Marcus was now staring at him expectantly, apparently wanting confirmation of Crash's answer from him, but although he wanted to say more, Eddie could only manage to force out three words.

"What he said," Eddie answered quickly, tilting his head toward Crash.

"I assume you mean to agree that Michael was travelling with you, because I happen to know that you were no where near you're brother, when Stacey found him. I believe we were half-way through questioning the sloth when you appeared, at which point your brother had been in our custody for quite some time," Marcus continued to speak calmly as he addressed Eddie, "However I really don't wish to get into details about such trivial issues, I just want to know one more thing and I beseech you, please answer truthfully because I _need_ to know this. Both Corbin and Marlon have informed me of matter of great concern, to everyone. I refer; of course, to the apparent re-appearance of the creature that we have been attempting to elude for some time now, known only as the Night Stalker and I have been told that it attacked and nearly killed my son, in your presence. Is this true?"

Crash and Eddie both shared a curious glance at one another, equally confused by this latest question. Both of them thought back to that day, now truly recognising the significance of the state of Mikey's tail when they had first met him, and wondering, was this, Night Stalker, the thing that had done that to him.

"I didn't think you would know, Marlon was correct, neither of you saw it happen. I believe Corbin, was leading you to your brother here," Marcus answered for them, apparently having asked the question in the hope that they would know more, looking first to Eddie and then to Crash, "And you, I believe you were unconscious. I don't deny that I do bear some responsibility for the events, but it would appear that it was necessary to bring the real situation to light. True or not, I must believe my subjects' word until someone can prove to me otherwise."

Marcus turned to the falcon, who was still continuing her sentry duty on the nearby rocks, and in light of the Sky King's latest statement, Eddie now had an unpleasant idea of what she may have been looking for, now noticing that the sun had completely set and night was setting in once again.

"Stacey, go out and find the other's it's getting too dark and tell them to cease the search. For now I want them to make sure no one strays from the main herd, it will only hunt those who find themselves alone, Corbin has made that very clear," as Marcus finished giving the order, Stacey immediately flew off into the gathering darkness and Marcus turned to Crash and Eddie, "You will remain here, until tomorrow. You may not realise this but The Night Stalker holds grudges in a very serious manner and if it saw you anywhere near my son when he fought it off, then I am sure it will seek you for the same reasons that I have, but I assure you that, if it finds you, you will not survive its version of questioning."

Eddie shivered at the thought of what The Night Stalker probably looked like, let alone what it would do to anyone it caught and, although his brother tried to hide it, he could tell Crash was thinking the same thing. Eddie was sure that it had to be be slightly harder for his brother since, unlike him, Crash had most likely never had nor wanted to face his own mortality, a thought which, at the moment, was completely unavoidable.

'_So this, thing's, coming after us now, what the heck do I do? What if it finds us, I don't want to die. Wait, what if it finds Ellie, will it know to question her, what if it kills her? Is it powerful enough to that?' _Eddie's head was once again spinning with tragic thoughts, just as it had when he had been in Marlon's talons.

"I would advise you to get some sleep. I know the ground doesn't seem that appealing to your kind, but you are above ground anyway and I believe you found some comfort in the cave over there," Marcus spoke to them, now sounding a lot more personable then before, almost as if the whole 'mean guy' thing had just been to get the truth out of them while they were questioned, but he was quick to assert his unloving indifference to them as he added, "I assure you that my help in this matter is purely a long owed favour to an old friend, I do not feel fond of either of you, but he did."

Whoever Marcus was talking about was a mystery that had to wait, neither Eddie nor Crash felt like asking the Sky King anymore, afraid that to do so would only bring more ominous revelations.

The two walked into the small cave, that Crash had previously been residing in, which turned out to be surprisingly large on the inside, and both sat down inside.

"Well such is life, night Ed," Crash said, lying back and shifting around a little, trying to get comfortable with the fact that he wasn't hanging upside-down.

Eddie slid to the side a little, making some room between himself and his brother, before he to, lay back and attempted to sleep, trying to take comfort in the fact that they were under the personal protection of the Sky King for now, and even the slight possibility that the Stalker may not even exist.

Although even with these thoughts in mind, it was still some time before he was able to completely fall asleep.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Mourning and Morning

Having considered it wise to put as much distant between himself and Diego, in light of the unfortunate incident earlier that afternoon, Mikey had made his way toward the rear of the herd and now found himself wandering beneath the enormous, hairy, forms of a large herd of mammoths.  
None of them appeared to show any interest in him at all, which wasn't surprising considering his extremely small stature and he doubted whether many of them could even see him, weaving in out between their feet. Although he had almost been stepped-on several times, Mikey considered this situation to be much safer than hanging around anywhere near Diego and his vicious temper.

Winding his way out of the hairy forest of mammoth legs and into the open air, Mikey stood up to take a good look at his new surroundings.

Unsurprisingly he found that the environment wasn't very different at all back here, with the sparsely vegetated plains stretching on and on into the distance, and a large group of grumbling animals lumbering around behind him. The only thing that had changed was the sky, which was quickly darkening as evening fell over the sunless landscape and he couldn't help noticing the large columns of ominous looking storm clouds rising over the navy-blue horizon, most likely headed in this direction.

He stood still for a moment, watching the blue-white flashes of lightening illuminate the distant thunderheads, and wondering how his life could get any worse right now.

So far he'd been attacked by a terrifying killer that he could only assume had been the Stalker, lost the trust and the protection of his ex-bodyguard and been placed in charge of this entire herd until having to admit his inadequacy for this task to Diego, after swearing on his life that he could do it, and, subsequently, the enraged tiger had attempted to skin him alive.

Now he stood here on the desolate plain, sore, tired, thirsty, hungry and completely alone apart from the uncaring mob of hairy beats behind him, with nothing capable of relieving any of his problems anywhere in sight and, in his state, he knew that he might as well spread himself over a platter should any hungry predators happen upon him standing here, but right now he was quite certain that he would have actually welcomed such an event.

With a short moan of despair Mikey fell to knees and placing his face in his hands while trying in vein to fight back the tears that were welling up in his eyes, desperately wishing that things had been different, where had he gone wrong?

As far as he could remember he had lived his life with Marcus, who had tried his hardest to raise Mikey in the best way that a hawk could raise a possum. Thankfully Marcus actually possessed a surprising repertoire of knowledge about possums, which went far beyond anything required to hunt them. From as far back as Mikey's memory could reach, the Sky King had taught him everything from what to eat, to walking and talking like a possum and his own special tips on how to avoid predators. Although he was extremely grateful for all of this and more, no matter how hard Marcus tried to make him feel wanted and indeed 'loved', Mikey had never really felt a real sense of family and it was this that he craved most above everything else.

"Why me, why'd my family have to die and leave me with Marcus," Mikey whimpered, unconsciously vocalising the thoughts currently running through his head, "I never even knew them. If they hadn't died, I would never have become his son, Corbin would never have woken me up, I would never have been in that apple tree and none of this would have happened. I'd be with them, and everyone would be happy. My brothers, my sisters, my mom and dad, I can't be with them, ever, they're dead and nothing will ever bring them back."

Mikey cried out in anguish, giving in completely to the despair and loneliness that filled his mind as collapsed into a bawling heap in the dirt. He knew how pathetic he must look right now, a mature sixteen year old possum lying on the ground crying, but he really couldn't care and he was quite sure none of the mammoths cared either.

It felt like hours, but it was really only about twenty minutes before Mikey was able to get a grip on himself and finally roll onto his back, still sobbing a little, but no longer crying.

"Feel better now?" a distinctly feminine voice sounded from the direction of the mammoth herd.

Now immensely embarrassed and surprised that someone had actually noticed, Mikey slowly stood up and turned to face the herd. He wasn't surprised to see that the vast majority of the giant fur-balls were merely lumbering around in search of a place to sleep, thoroughly uninterested in him at all; and it didn't take him long to spot the odd one out.

A slightly younger looking mammoth, whose body was covered in a thick layer of dark brown fur, was staring straight at him, with a pretty much blank gaze.

"What?" the mammoth asked in a distinctly male voice, sounding slightly annoyed by Mikey's, clearly undesired, attention, "That wasn't me, she said it," he continued, using his trunk to point out a small animal standing just in front of him.

At first glance her own brown, beige ringed,coat had camouflaged the possum against the mammoth's fur, but now that he had pointed her out, Mikey could see her very clearly, as she stood and smiled at him.

Although he wanted to, Mikey dared not open his mouth to speak for fear that he could begin bawling uncontrollably again, he certainly felt that way, and even though it wasn't generally his nature to cry in front of strangers, the last few weeks had been far too much for him to handle.

"It's better to let it out, you'll only make it worse if don't," the possum began, as she started walking toward Mikey, followed closely by the mammoth, "My name's Amy, and this is Vincent."

"Call me Vinny," said the mammoth, as the possum, apparently named Amy, introduced him.

"What's your name," Amy asked gently, as she began to walk toward Mikey, whilst Vinny gave a tired yawn behind her and began lumbering away in search of a place to sleep for the night.

As Amy approached Mikey could see that, although she was about his height, she was clearly significantly older than him but definitely still on the young side of thirty and something about her seemed so gentle and caring that it just made him want to trust her.

"Michael," he began, fighting hard to keep his voice from shaking too much, "Most people call me Mikey."

"Are you alright," Amy asked, her shiny, light grey, eyes meeting Mikey's own brown ones, with a concerned gaze, "Is something wrong?"

Mikey remained silent and looked away, trying to fight back the fresh wave of tears now threatening to fill his eyes as his mind once again began to fill with thoughts of the numerous misfortunes of the past few weeks and that which now seemed to plague his entire life.

"I'm sorry, if it's that bad don't worry about it, you don't have to tell me anything," Amy added quickly as Mikey began to sob uncontrollably.

Although he tried as hard as he could to fight it back, there was really nothing he could do as a new surge of intense grief engulfed his mind and he, once again, began to weep uncontrollably in front of this complete stranger.

Mikey felt Amy place a comforting arm around his shoulders and, turning his head to face her with tears still welling up in his eyes and falling to the ground below, she spoke to him with a kind and comforting smile.

"Its okay, everything will be better tomorrow," Amy began reassuringly, in a soft, gentle voice, "I'll be here for you as long as you need."

Mikey could only return her offer with a weak smile, as the tears began to subside enough for him to look up at her and, gazing through his tears at the warm, radiant smile currently set upon her face, he began to realise that, although he didn't know her at all, Amy had already begun to feel somehow close, like the family he'd never really had and there was nothing in the world that he could really do to show his appreciation for that.

* * *

A deafeningly loud thunder clap echoed throughout the small, dark, cave, jolting Eddie instantly from his restless, shallow, slumber. 

Somewhere to his right, Crash was still fast asleep and snoring at a volume comparable to that of the loud rumbling flowing in from the cave mouth.

Pulling himself into a sitting position, Eddie ran his face through his hands, before staring around at his dank surroundings, remembering the events of the previous day and why he was sleeping on the ground, inside this dark, damp, cavern.

The first thing he noticed was that rainwater from downpour outside had run in small streams from the cave mouth, leaving himself and his brother resting in a shallow puddle of, uncomfortably chilly, water.

'_How does he do it,' _thought Eddie, silently gazing at his brother, Crash, who was currently lying on his back, mouth wide open and snoring like a mammoth with a bad head-cold, _'No matter how hard I try I just can't do what he does, just letting everything roll off his shoulders like that, It's like nothing ever bothers him." _

Eddie couldn't help but think about all of the times that Crash had gone out of his way to cheer him up, no matter what was troubling himself at the time, and how he would constantly encourage him to try something new, whether it had been a trick, a joke, or a whole new prank. In a way Crash felt more like the other half of him than just his brother and there was simply no way he could imagine any real life without the guy.

With these thoughts in mind Eddie decided against waking his brother, after all he deserved the rest, instead getting up and walking toward the cave entrance, alone, to see how things were going outside.

Stopping just at the cave mouth, Eddie gazed out at the cliff top on which the cave was situated. He couldn't really see very much through the heavy downpour outside, only the fact that the sun had definitely risen, leaving the relatively still day in a shade of cloudy grey. The dense curtains of rain completely obscured anything further than the cliff-edge, and the seemingly constant rushing sound of the intense rain was broken only by intermittent low, loud rumbles of distant thunder.

Stepping out into the pouring rain, Eddie's fur was instantly drenched in the chilly rainwater, taking only mere seconds to soak so far into his coat that he could feel it beginning to run over his skin, as he meandered over to the cliff edge and peered over, careful not to slip on the watery stones beneath his feet.

To his surprise the cliff was barely fifteen metres high, which was still a lethal fall, but at least he could see the ground below, and the vast expanse of grumpy, sodden animals wandering around in the mud. Smiling slightly as he gazed around at the unrelenting weather, Eddie remembered just how much he loved rainy days, especially when there was plenty of mud to slide around on and, of course, roll into sloppy balls and throw at unsuspecting targets. The way this day appeared to be going, there would be plenty of things for him and Crash to do and Ellie would be powerless to stop them.

"Good morning young possum," Marcus called over the rain in his usual upper crusty accent, swooping from out of nowhere and landing with a small splash fairly close to the centre of the cliff, "Eddie, I believe?"

Turning to face the hawk, who was thoroughly soaked, Eddie gave the sky king a small nod to indicate that his guess had been correct before asking a question of his own, even though he could tell from the Sky King's expression what the answer almost certainly was.

"Did you have any luck finding Mikey?" he asked as clearly as he could through his now furiously chattering teeth.

Although he didn't like the possum that much, Marcus's adopted son had turned out to have saved Crash's life twice in the same day; the same hour even, and Eddie could not really escape the thought that he and Crash somehow owed Mikey for that.

"I'm afraid not, but none of my subjects have reported anything unusual occurring during the course night either, which is encouraging to say the least," Marcus answered, something in his answer telling Eddie that he wasn't really encouraged at all in the slightest, "Tell me, where is your brother?"

"He's still asleep in the c-" Eddie began in answer to Marcus' question, but he was cut short by the loud shouting which suddenly began emanating from inside the cave.

"Oh man, not again!" he heard Crash yell in frustration, clearly believing that he had wet himself in his sleep again, after having just woken up in the puddle of water that had formed during the night's rainstorm.

"I'd say he's awake now," Marcus remarked irritably, shaking his body furiously in an attempt to dry himself a little.

"Oh wait," Crash continued, from inside the cave, "Phew, it's just water. Aint that a piece of luck hey Ed, Ed! Where are you Eddie?"

Crash began calling for his brother, apparently only now realising that he was not in the cave with him.

"Out here, Crash!" Eddie called back, "F.Y.I you didn't dream anything about yesterday, Marcus is here too," he added, as Crash walked out of the cave mouth and into the pouring rain, to meet him.

"Well, dah, I have eyes you know!" Crash exclaimed mockingly, as he reached Eddie, now just as sodden as his brother, "Say, Mark, is there anything to eat around here, I'm starving"

"It's just Marcus," snapped The Sky King, "State my name properly or don't mention it at all, and I'm afraid that there is no time for anyone to eat anything right now."

"What!" Crash shouted, with a mixture of surprise and anger, "I'm totally soaked and freezing my tail off here, and now you say that I'm gonna have to starve too; I'm not going anywhere until I get something to eat, what the heck's wrong with you, ."

Eddie immediately prepared to run for his life, although the hawk had already asserted the fact that he and Crash were not to be harmed by anyone else, he was still not exactly certain enough about his own position in the situation to completely rule out the fact that Marcus himself wasn't beyond harming them both for any reason that they presented for him to do so. Yet to his surprise, Marcus did not make any move to viciously rend either of the two brothers, but instead he spoke calmly, with only the slightest hint of a frown showing on his face.

"Many things are wrong with everybody right now, but I'm afraid I do not possess the time nor the patience to explain anything right now," explained Marcus, again attempting to shake away some of the water that was soaking through his feathers, "Now since you are both awake I suggest that you come with me, and I will announce the new leadership arrangements for this herd."

"Leadership arrangements?" Eddie exclaimed curiously, "Are you taking over as the herd's leader, cause I don't think Diego will like that very much."

"No, not the entire herd," Marcus answered impatiently, "but as I have already told you, I do not have any time to explain, now are you coming with me or not?"

"How?" asked Crash, also impatiently, but in his case it was with the way the hawk was ordering them around so much.

Marcus didn't speak, he didn't need to; the way that he was flexing his talons and, although it wasn't really intended to be threatening, that alone was enough for Crash to take one look at them and realise exactly how the Sky King intended to take them to where ever he was going.

"Ha!" Crash shouted sarcastically, "Do you think I'm an idiot, any possum knows that's just hawk for 'just lie down and let me eat you'. Why don't you just ask me to pepper myself right now and save some time, by the way I'll go nicely with Eddie here."

"Tempting, but unfortunately that will have wait," Marcus returned with an unconvincing smile and, turning away from the two possums, he spread his wings and took flight, disappearing completely into the rainstorm, leaving Crash and Eddie alone on the cliff.

"Since when did any of these weirdoes care? We're possums and no one cares about what we do and I like it that way," Crash asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice, as he turned to Eddie, "What the heck is going on around here, Eddie?"

"I dunno, Crash, but I think you and me should watch each other's backs, who know what's gonna happen next?" Eddie responded, making it quite clear that he knew just about as much as Crash did.

"C'mon Ed, you know I've always got your back and you've always had mine it's the way it works and it's the way it'll stay and nothing in the world will change it, trust me on that one," assured Crash, giving his brother a small smile.

"Yeah, well I don' think teasing the _Sky King_, who, if you haven't noticed, is a giant hawk, is very good back-watching!" Eddie yelled irritably, "Heck you actually told him-"

Suddenly a hawk call, sounded from somewhere above them and Eddie immediately looked to the dark grey to see whether or not it had been Marcus returning to the cliff after having completed his errand or another hawk altogether, and neither of those prospects were particularly appealing. Unfortunately, as he attempted to look up towards the source of the call, Eddie was blinded by the heavy, driving rain as it pelted into his eyes from above.

He cried out as the icy water ran over his eyes, causing them to sting horribly, forcing him to shut them tightly and look away.

"Eddie!" he heard Crash cry out, before feeling something soft, warm and slightly heavy, slam into his side, forcing him to the ground with a splash and land on his back in one of the shallow puddles, which had formed on the cliff top.

As lay in the puddle, still reeling from his brother's furious tackle, Eddie opened his eyes and although his vision was still a little fuzzy around the edges and his eyes were tingling unpleasantly, he could see quite well.

Crash, who was lying on top of Eddie, obviously having just tackled him to the ground, leapt to his feet, grabbed Eddie around his middle and pulling him up as well.

"C'mon Ed," Crash yelled, falling to all fours and sprinting as fast as he could toward the small crevice in which the two brothers had spent the night, Eddie following close behind.

With his eyes fixed on the cave entrance as he ran towards it after his brother, Eddie failed too look around and therefore didn't notice the hawk diving down at him, taken completely by surprise as the hawks talons slammed into his side, sending him skidding at first, then rolling over the wet, stony ground, his head colliding painfully with rocks, as he rolled along.

"Galloway, you have to grab him with your talon at the moment of impact, no later!" called the relatively unaccented voice of what had to be one of the attacking hawks, clearly Galloway, who was most likely another hawk, had missed grabbing Eddie by accident.

Knowing full well, that Galloway, whose name Eddie distinctly remembered being mentioned by Marcus yesterday, was almost certainly preparing for a second attack, Eddie rolled got back up, still on all fours, and sprinted away, only this time he was still slightly dazed from the hawk's first dive and wasn't watching where he was going.

It was far too late when he realised that, in his desperation and confusion, he had sprinted off straight for the cliff edge and, despite his best attempts to stop, he only managed to slip over on the slippery, water soaked rocks, rolling right over the edge.

Eddie grabbed desperately at the cliff edge as he began to fall, missing it only by the width of hair and continuing to plummet downward, tumbling helplessly through the air as he fell toward the ground at a neck snapping speed.

His body was rolling rapidly over and over, giving him only brief glimpses of the ground and the dark grey sky above with absolutely no time to see any real detail, and with his mind spinning just as fast as his body he had no chance of any coherent thoughts anyway, as he continued to plunge toward his certain death below.

All of a sudden he felt something slam into him from above, at first seeming to push him down even faster but as he felt the pressure of six sharp talons begin to wrap itself around him, he felt his body cease its rapid tumbling instantly, but still leaving him extremely dizzy and disorientated.

Surprisingly the dangerously sharp claws that were now grasping him tightly were wrapped around his body completely with only the very ends pricking him a little, which, although mildly uncomfortable, was a damn sight better than having them impaling his body, as was usually the norm for anything being carried away in such a manner.

As far as Eddie could see the hawk had just managed to catch him barely a few metres from the ground and it only took the hawk a few seconds to reach a sufficiently low altitude from which to let go of him safely, without actually having to land itself.

Barely a foot above the ground, the hawk released Eddie from the grasp of its talons, letting him fall to the ground and land on his back, with a small splat, in a large patch of mud, where he continued to lie for a few minutes and let the cool, soft mud relax him a little, before sitting up to take stock of surroundings.

The rain was still bucketing down heavily, that one was obvious from the start, but he didn't really get a good chance to look around due to the fact that he was suddenly blinded by wet, orange, fur as he was wrenched hastily from the mud with a loud slurping noise, and completely enfolded in the warm, soft, but definitely not dry, embrace from what was almost certainly a mammoth's trunk.

With a pretty good had a pretty good idea of who it was he returned the hug by wrapping his own, thankfully free, arms as far as he could around the trunk.

It was several minutes before he was placed back onto the muddy ground and released from the mammoth's furry grip, to find himself staring up at his sister, Ellie, who was pretty teary-eyed, but smiling ecstatically.

Although Eddie wasn't in time to see it, a loud splat sounded behind him and, as he turned around to see what he could already guess had been his brother being delivered in much the same fashion as himself; sure enough he spotted Crash, lying face-down in the mud barely three feet away.

Pulling his face out of the thick muck, first, Crash pushed himself to his feet and stared around for a few seconds with a look of surprise and confusion on his face, which was almost completely slathered in mud, before letting out a short laugh, throwing his arms in the air and shouting at the top of his voice.

"That-was-AWESOME!" he called out, over the sound of the, still pouring, rain.

"Crash! You're alive too, hallelujah!" Ellie cried, immediately wrapping her trunk around Crash to give him the mammoth equivalent of a relieved hug, just as she had for Eddie, which Crash obligingly returned.

Letting Crash down right next to Eddie, Ellie appeared to give them both a quick once over, before deciding to talk to either them, which actually took a few minutes longer than usual.

"I can't believe it, you're really alive! When I saw that bird grab you yesterday, I thought you were gone for sure," exclaimed Ellie, as she recalled the events of yesterday with a sense of immense surprise and happiness ever present in her voice, "And Crash, when Sid told me that another bird had caught you as well, I blamed Manny for not watching you closely enough, I haven't spoken to him since. Quick, Climb on, I've gotta take you to the others, they'll be so happy, especially Sarah!"

"Sarah!" Eddie blurted out, unable to contain his surprise and, very strangely, happiness, "She, She missed us?"

"More like she missed _you_, Eddie," Ellie answered, with a smile, "Trust me; you should have seen her when she found out that you'd been taken by that falcon."

"Then what the heck are we waiting for," Eddie shouted excitedly as he climbed up onto his sisters back, with Crash following close behind, although he probably didn't care about it.

With both Crash and Eddie, safely sitting on her back, Ellie immediately began to make her way to the front of the herd, chattering excitedly with her brothers as they proceeded to fill her in on what had just happened to them.


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

As Paths Divide

The rain was still falling from the dark grey sky, drenching the plane below and everything on it, but thankfully the thunder had long since ceased, leaving only the loud pitter-patter of rain. Many of the animals in the herd were growing restless and irritable as they continued to stand and wait in the icy downpour, for the signal to move on. They're obvious displeasure for this was made very clear by the angry muttering and often insulting shouting, as Ellie pushed her way to front of the herd, with her two recently reunited brothers who had actually been dropped a fair distance from the cliff-face.

"Wait Eddie, back up a little there, did you just say that, Mikey is a hawk's kid?" She asked, calling up to Eddie, who had been filling her in on everything that had happened.

"Yep, and since he fought this Night Stalker thing, The Sky King, Marcus, said that it would go after Mikey for revenge," Eddie explained to his sister, recalling the conversation that he and Crash had shared with the Marcus during the previous evening.

"Wow, a possum being raised by a hawk, that's even weirder than me," Ellie stated, drifting a little from the topic at hand, "Wait, what's a Night Stalker?"

"I dunno," Eddie answered, "But Marcus said it kills a lot of animals, and Mikey made it really mad when he fought back to stop it from eating- ouch, hey!"

Eddie was rubbing his, now very sore, shoulder as he turned to Crash, who had just punched him extremely hard, and couldn't help feeling a little surprised to see his brother glaring at him warningly, gesturing a threat to punch him again if he tried to continue.

"Don't tell her it was me!" Crash whispered angrily, "If she finds out I almost got killed by that thing, we'll never be able to do anything fun ever again, and I'll beat you into last week if you do."

"Eating what?" asked Ellie suspiciously, very wary of her brother's sudden hesitance, knowing from long experience that it was very often a warning sign for trouble.

"Ahh, someone, I didn't know 'em at all," Eddie continued, trying to sound as convincing as possible and only continuing when he felt sure that Crash wasn't going to hit him again, "Trouble is, when Mikey fought against the thing, he won, and that means that the Stalker's got it in for him now, if it finds him it's gonna kill him."

"So what? He's gone somewhere else now. Apparently he didn't know the way after all, and he ran for it," grumbled Ellie, clearly not the least bit sad to hear that Mikey was probably going to end up dead soon, "Now the we've got no idea what to do. Manny wants to go back, but Diego keeps saying that we have to go on and Sid just agrees with whoever yells loudest."

"What did you want to do sis?" asked Eddie, grabbing this chance to change the subject and avoid being pounded into mush by Crash, who had taken to returning the other animals insults with his own brand of cheek and vulgarity.

"Well, I wanted to stay awhile longer in case you managed to escape," Ellie answered, making Eddie just want to hug her again, before she added sheepishly, "I didn't say anything, though. It's just that I've been so tired lately, I mean _really_ tired, and there's no way I'm gonna get into an argument if I can help it. Turns out I didn't need to say anything anyway, since Diego and Manny argued all night the herd had to hang around, but damn did they yell, I had to go all the way back there just to get some sleep. Then that storm rolled in and kept me up all night, almost."

"Don't worry 'bout it Ellie," assured Cash, after having just told an aardvark something about where to stick his nose, "I'm just happy you thought about us, plus the Sky King says he's got some new leadership idea for the herd anyway. Personally I think he's gonna take over, but I don't care, if it means Eddie and I don't get eaten, I'm happy."

"I just hope it means we're going somewhere, so that Manny and Diego will stop fighting," commented Ellie, as she pushed her way through the last of few spade mouths (as Eddie like to call them) and finally reached the very front of the herd.

Once again, Marcus and his subjects were perched in the same small tree growing in front of the cliff, and from the irritated looks set upon the faces of the other animals, including the birds, it wasn't hard to tell that Ellie's sudden appearance had interrupted Marcus in the middle of, what had to be, his leadership proposal.

"Ellie, there you are!" called Manny, clearly relieved to see her again and immediately beginning to make his way toward her with a very confused, and slightly shamefaced, Diego following close behind him.

"Where's Sid?" Ellie asked Manny quietly, but as he drew level with her instead of an answer Manny just smiled and locked trunks with her for a moment, the two of them sharing nothing except a loving gaze into one another's eyes.

For several seconds both mammoths seemed to share one of the silent, perfectly idyllic moments which seemed to truly define why these two were meant to be together, and although his ever inappropriate brother soon began to gag in revulsion, Eddie actually found himself feeling a little jealous.

"Eh-hem, could you please tell me when you're done so that I may continue," Marcus called irritably toward Manny and Ellie, who immediately pulled apart and Manny proceeded to take up a position standing next to Ellie, giving a small nod to the Sky King who took this as sign that he could continue his proposal.

"As I was saying," Marcus began, speaking in the loudest voice he could manage so as to get the message as far as possible, "It would appear that you are trapped here because you wish to reach the Green Lands but do not posses the knowledge concerning which path to take. Well, I am pleased to tell you that both paths lead there."

Some excited muttering began to spread through the crowd before him as he delivered this very welcome news.

"However," Chase broke in now, smiling maliciously, always the bearer of bad news and still loving it, "They are not the same, many of you will have to be very careful when choosing which path to take, and there is very little time left for decisions. Although many of you may not have noticed because of this cliff side behind me, there is, in fact, a volcano between the paths and it has become very active of late. I can only guess just how long you really have until it erupts, and when it does; neither of these paths will be of any use to you, and this time I assure you there will be no last minute miracles. Trapped, doomed to starve and die, is the fate for those who decide wait."

The vulture finished the last prophetic statement with a small nod toward Corbin, and a delighted grin at the chorus of frightened gasps from the animals in the crowd below as the message began to sink in.

"Thank you Chase," Marcus began, sounding strangely unconcerned with being interrupted by the vulture, "That is correct, but I am sure that we have at least two and half months until the eruption. It is possible, however, that the volcano may have less time than that, therefore it is imperative that we begin as soon as possible. Firstly, as Chase indicated, both paths are different and yes you will have to choose. The path to my left is what many may believe to be the easier path, and under normal circumstances this true since it is relatively flat, open and fairly simple to traverse. However its much greater length places a substantial amount of strain on our, already dangerously limited, timeframe. Therefore those who take this path will have to be able to deal with far less time for recuperation and a journey that you will find very demanding, both mentally and physically."

Marcus paused for a few seconds to give the other animals a chance to consider this option before continuing.

"The path to my right is perhaps the more difficult of the two," Marcus began again, "Albeit a much shorter path with many more opportunities for rest, this option is not without its dangers. As I myself have observed, this route will appear similar to the other for the first few miles, before it enters a series of densely vegetated woodlands, in which it has proven very easy to stray, and also difficult to follow others. On this route I can only advise that one shows extreme caution, and I personally recommend it to anyone seeking to avoid any unwanted pursuers."

The Sky King threw a glance in Crash and Eddie's direction before he continued; clearly indicating that this last comment had been made especially to them.

"In both cases I have selected leaders, who will be tasked with guiding both parties safely to the end of each path, where they will meet in the Green Lands, assuming all goes well. Any choosing the path to my right will be lead by myself and my chief consult Mallory, both of us have previous experience along this path and are more than capable of guiding any who take this route. Those who chose the longer path to my left will be lead by my close assistant, Marlon, along with Diego and Manfred, a pair of friendly faces I believe, who have both agreed to act as escort for all who choose to take this path. Do not waste any time whilst you consider your options, I will give only one hour for decisions, wait too long and you will be left behind."

Upon finishing his announcement, the Sky King joined one of the other hawks, a slightly smaller but definitely wise looking one, perched on a lower branch and they proceeded to join in a discussion. Over what they were discussing, Eddie could only guess, as he slid down his sisters side, followed closely by Crash, both of them landing with a soft squelch as their feet hit the mud below.

Ellie quickly turned to Manny with a look of both surprise and considerable admiration, before they and Diego joined many of the other animals, who had also gathered into small groups to discuss their options. All of which were generally species specific huddles.

"What do ya' think Ellie's gonna choose?" asked Crash, shivering slightly, as the rain continued to pour down over the excited rabble of animals, keeping both he and his brother's pelts constantly soaked and dripping.

"I dunno', but she said she's tired a lot, so I bet she'll pick the short and foresty path. Plus it'll keep us out of the rain; well after the first few miles anyway," answered Eddie, beginning to make his way through the mud, with no particular destination in mind.

"But Manny's going to take the long path, won't she follow him?" Crash pointed out, trudging through the mud after his brother, "I mean, did you see the way she looked at him before, that means she must like him a lot."

"I guess we'll find out when we leave then, Crash," Eddie responded, still treading aimlessly, "You know I thought we'd get to do something cool today, but there's no time for fun anymore, because all this stuff keeps happening."

Crash didn't respond to his brother's comment, verbally anyway, instead Eddie was suddenly struck on the back of the head by what definitely felt like a ball of mud, which had been thrown at high speed and with considerable accuracy.

"Hey!" Eddie cried out, turning around to investigate where the mud had come from, "What's the big id-"

A second ball of mud smacked Eddie square on the nose, splattering his entire face with the brown muck, causing him to lose balance in the slippery mess and fall flat on his butt.

Recovering from the minor daze caused by the sudden, slightly painful, impact of the mud, Eddie was only just in time to spot and duck a third mud ball which had been thrown towards him by his brother Crash.

"Oh you think that's funny!" Eddie yelled towards his brother, at the same time sporting a wide grin on his mud coated face as he reached down and grabbed up a handful of the thick brown sludge.

As Crash stood and laughed at his brother, sitting seemingly helpless in the mud, Eddie rolled the mud into the best ball shape he could manage and threw it with all the force he could muster straight towards his brother, striking him dead centre in the chest.

It wasn't long until both brothers were engaged in a full blown mud-ball war, each ducking and diving furiously to and fro to avoid each other's attacks, often falling over into the mud, slathering their entire coat in brown muck just before quickly retaliating with muddy projectiles of their own.

Each lost track of time completely, even forgetting the trouble ahead and just enjoying the moment of fun, which steadily progressed from a mud-ball war into to a mud wrestling match which ended with Eddie gaining the upper hand by forcing his brother onto his stomach and proceeding to sit on him, grabbing both of Crash's ears and pulling them as far they could stretch.

Unfortunately he didn't notice his brothers hand creeping upwards toward his body, where it then grabbed a whole handful of his wet, filthy fur and began to pull and twist it painfully, forcing Eddie to let go of the ears as he attempted stop Crash from ripping out a handful of his fur, losing his advantage and forcing the temporary stalemate to progress into round two of furious hand to hand combat.

"Eddie!" a familiar voice cried, just as he once again began administering some furious ear torture upon his brother, except this time he was wary of any fur grabbing limbs rising up from below.

Immediately letting go of his brother's ears, causing Crash's head to fly forward and smack face-first into the muddy ground with a loud splat, Eddie looked to where the voice had come from, his muddy face lighting up even further when he noticed the source.

"Sarah!" he called out, instantly leaping off his battered and beaten brother, and running over to the young female possum, who he had almost forgotten about.

As they met, Sarah wrapped her arms around Eddie, pulling him into a warm, damp, muddy embrace, and, taking him completely by surprise, she pressed her mouth against his in a soft, loving, _kiss_!

Although it had only been for a brief three seconds, this sudden, unexpected expression affection, was thoroughly mind blowing for Eddie, not to mention surprising the heck out of Crash, who had only just managed pull his head from the mud and was left completely dumbfounded by what he saw.

"When I heard that a falcon had carried you off, I didn't believe it, but when you didn't turn up last night I thought you were dead for sure," Sarah whimpered, tears beginning to well up in her jade-green eyes , as she continued to hug him ever more tightly, as if in fear that he would disappear again if she let go, "I wanted to tell you yesterday, I was going to tell you at the sunset, I-"

"Wait, don't tell me now," Eddie cut in, pulling away from Sarah's hug, already very sure and very happy about what she probably wanted to say, "Wait till the clouds break, then tell me at the sunset. Trust me this rain won't last forever," he looked at Sarah, noticing that her pelt was now slightly muddy from hugging his own filthy pelt, and got an interesting idea, "Say, would you like to join me and Crash in a mud war, you know, until we have to leave."

Sarah looked Eddie straight in the eye, instantly filling him with anxiety as to whether he'd just ruined the whole thing before it had started, but instead of vicious break up frown, a large smile spread across her face and her sadness appeared to leave her almost instantly.

"Try and stop me!" she cried, before diving into the mud and beginning to bombard Eddie with mud-balls before he'd even had a chance to react.

Although Crash didn't like the idea of a girl joining in, he just couldn't resist a good mud fight, after all, the more the merrier and he instantly dove into the muddy free-for-all.

The game continued for the rest of the hour, periodically changing into mud wrestling matches and then back into a mud-ball war every few minutes, with Sarah always seeming to come out on top. The whole competition only finishing when Ellie wandered over to tell them that it was time to go, and reveal that, contrary to Crash's initial belief that she would opt for the long path with Manny, it turned out that both Diego and Manny himself had insisted that she take the short, but slightly more restful path, although she couldn't really imagine why and Eddie couldn't really imagine why she would care.

As he walked along beside his sister with both Sarah and Crash, all of them having been refused riding privileges for being far too muddy for Ellie to even consider allowing them onto her back, Eddie gazed up at the dark-grey rain clouds above, unsure of whether it was still morning, but all the while longing for them to break away and reveal the sun. Just to see the sunset and hear Sarah's words, the words that he had never actually thought that he'd ever hear from anyone in his entire life.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Somewhere I Belong 

Mikey hung by his tail from one of the lower branches of a small tree, growing only a few metres from the main herd, and gazed through tear filled eyes, at the pretty much bare, rain-soaked, landscape and the steadily darkening rain clouds which had occupied the sky for the past week and a half that the large mammoth herd had been travelling. Thankfully the tree's densely packed leaves had turned out to be pretty effective at keeping out most of the, now lightly falling rain, which had allowed him to take a short nap before nightfall in moderate comfort and safety.

The journey so far had not been pleasant, after having chosen the longer, supposedly easier path, these animals had been forced to endure perpetual driving rain, rapidly falling temperatures, and little to no rest during the day, however the whole thing had been especially difficult for Mikey.  
On top of his ever increasing sense of hopelessness and grief over his dead family and the seemingly permanent loss of contact with his father, the adolescent now had to be on a constant look out for Diego, who had unfortunately elected to accompany Manny as escort for herd, but none of these were anything close to the real source of his misery and he wasn't at liberty to discuss it with anyone.

As it had turned out, Amy had been one of many, many possums who were travelling alongside the mammoths as part of an agreement that the two species had reached just before leaving the flooded valley; whereas the mammoths provided day time transportation and protection for the possums, who would usually be asleep by morning, as long as the males acted as night watch for the mammoths and looked for areas for them to have breakfast when they woke up.  
Unfortunately this meant that Mikey had had to switch to a nocturnal sleeping pattern after a lifetime of living in daylight, which had only served to depress him more, however it had been living within this large group of possums that had given rise to his latest grievance and it was this relatively minor problem that seemed to trouble him the most right now.

With a small sniffle, the young possum used the back of his hand to wipe away yet another tear as it welled up and began to run over his upside-down forehead and toward the ground below. Using the other arm to reach up and grab onto the branch from which he was hanging and beginning a slow, inverted crawl toward the tree trunk and down to the ground.

Upon landing with a small squelch on the soft, muddy ground, he noticed that several of the other possums were already up and on the go; some of them were conversing with mammoths about everything from what had happened during the day to giving hints on the best place to sleep. Several more of the other possums were scampering around in the falling day light, amongst the giant, drowsy, fur balls; looking for friends, family members and things to eat for breakfast.  
Many of the younger females were sporting two to three young possum children, either clinging to their back or trailing very close by, and many of these females had a male accompanying them, ranging from more mature looking fathers, who were probably parenting their second or third litter, to adolescents and new fathers looking for parenting advice.  
It wasn't just possums and mammoths either, many weird, and not always wonderful, animals were wandering around in the dusk, either looking for places to sleep, such as the sloths, glyptodonts and the various birds which flew low overhead, or just waking up to the night like the possums.

Although it had initially filled him with immense jealousy to see all of these happy families and individuals, as the days went on he had come to find it as a comforting reassurance that there was still some peace and happiness in a world which seemed so dedicated to destroying him, and it always made him smile to see the evening wake up rush.

"Hey Mikey my boy, how's things?" called Colby, Amy's, very friendly, older brother, and a father who was currently on his third litter of two with his mate, Larissa; both of whom Mikey had met the day after the trek had begun and had become fast friends with their fourteen year old sons, Emile and Florian.

He now watched as the family began to scurry towards him, running under, around and sometimes over the other animals, often receiving some angry shouts from the tired and grumpy day light ones.

Upon reaching the base of the tree, the family took it one-by-one in turns to greet Mikey in their own way, starting with Colby himself with a traditional handshake, through to Emile and Florian who both hugged Mikey at the same time from both sides, sandwiching him completely.

"Well, how are you going?" Colby repeated with a smile, placing an arm around his mate and giving Mikey a small, suggestive wink to indicate that Larissa was indeed pregnant with her fourth litter, "Sleep well?"

"Oh, umm, it's been okay, I guess, I'm still getting used to sleeping in daylight but it's getting better," Mikey answered honestly, with a small smile of his own, and looking toward Larissa now noticing the distinctive smell of pregnancy, "How long now?"

"Sorry?" Larissa asked, apparently unsure of what Mikey had meant.

"Until the litter, you're pregnant aren't you?" asked Mikey.

"Oh, yes, yes I am actually," Larissa answered cheerfully, "It's Colby; He likes to have kids around but Emile and Florey here have announced that they're leaving in summer, so we decided to have one more litter."

"Yeah, real loud like, eh Flory," Emile piped up jokingly, giving a small nod toward his brother.

"You bet it was loud, Emile, and it was scary!" Flory responded, trying his best to look terrified but both he and his brother merely broke into hysterical laughter and began rolling around on the ground, with Mikey joining in with the first actual laugh he'd managed in months.

"He he, ahh guys, how about you go find yourselves some breakfast," suggested Colby, smiling weakly with a look of intense embarrassment on his face.

"No way, I've got heaps more to te-" Emile began, but was cut off by his father.

"Oh no you don't!" Colby shouted, gesturing for them to go away, "Go and find something to eat, NOW!"

"See ya' Mikey," Emile and Flory both called back to Mikey in unison as they scampered off quickly toward a group of five or six other children, probably with the intention of spreading their joke or joining them in the mud sliding activity in which they already appeared to be engaged.

Colby sighed and shook his head as he turned back to Mikey with a small smile, "Kids eh, he, he they always know more than you want em too," said Colby thoughtfully, before turning to his mate, "Well, to answer your question, Mikey, we think we've got about ten days until the birth, then a couple of months before they leave the pouch, you know the usual." he paused to look around for a second before continuing, "I don't know about you but I'm feeling a bit hungry and don't forget you're eating for two, Larissa, or is it three again? Hmm, anyway see you later Mikey and please tell Amy that she's got some new nephews or nieces come to think of it. Anyway tell her their on the way. Oh yeah and tell her about Emile and Flory's decision, I think she'll want to be there for her nephews when they go out on there own. You know to give them some her usual hints and things."

"Will do Colby, bye Larissa," Mikey gave the two a small wave as the couple sped off into the night to find something to eat, leaving him alone once again but definitely a lot happier than he had been.

"Hey, there you are Mikey," called a voice, which he recognised instantly as that of Amy, his friend and current source of moral support, who he could now see standing beside a bunch of brown furry animals, which were currently too tightly packed to make out properly, "Come over here, I found some food for us."

Mikey immediately dropped to all fours and sprinted as fast as could through the light rain and mud, over to Amy, who met him with a hug and small, friendly kiss on the side of his face, which he had already accepted as merely a friendly greeting and certainly nothing more than that. Especially since he'd come to think of her as more of a mother than just a friend, a simple impression that she seemed to be well aware of and appeared to be enjoying it.

Amy pointed down at a small mud hill, which stood immediately next to Mikey's right foot, about level with his knee in height, "That's an anthill Mikey."

He yelled and jumped away instantly, fearing the lasting sting of the infamous stinger-ants which were known to inhabit leafy undergrowth and damp mud, and were currently crawling all over the anthill.

"No, Mikey, there not stingers," Amy laughed, kneeling down and picking one up, the yellow striped insect, which was about one centimetre millimetres long, abnormally large for an ant, struggling in her hand, "Stingers don't have this stripe or the amber coloured thing here, and they're much smaller," she pointed at the ants abdomen which was coloured just as she had described, seeming to contain some sort of brown-orange substance, "This, Mikey, is a honey-ant."

Upon finishing the sentence, Amy threw the entire ant into her mouth and began to chew, "Try a couple, but don't just eat one or you won't taste much," Amy stated, coaxing several more onto one of her fingers and licking them off, chewing happily.

Mikey placed his finger cautiously onto the anthill, preparing to pull it back the moment any of the unnervingly huge insects attempted to bite him, although he did enjoy the tickling sensation they made as they crawled up and onto his hand. Once he had managed to get about five of them onto his finger, Mikey quickly raised them to his mouth and proceeded to suck them all off.

At first they tasted like any ant, with an odd kind of bitterness that only the aardvarks appeared to enjoy, but as he chewed on the delightfully crunchy insects, they cracked open and a magnificent, honey like sweetness began to fill his mouth. It was practically heavenly compared to the other morsels that Mikey had been scrounging up in the past few days.

He immediately placed his finger once more on the anthill, this time letting about ten or so climb on before he pulled it away and cleared them off into his mouth, and this time the taste was even stronger with the increased number of delicious honey-ants to crunch.

Before long he was attempting to get whole handfuls of them, sometimes accidentally bringing some mud too as he proceeded to feast on the delectable insects, but he didn't mind since the ants themselves were more than flavoursome enough to cover up the bland dirt.

After several minutes of complete an utter pigging out on the ants, Mikey finally sat back, placing a hand on his stomach which, for the first time in months, felt completely full, and looked to Amy, who had long since had her fill and had spent the remaining twenty minutes sitting and watching Mikey eat.

"So, you how do you feel now?" she asked, glancing at Mikey's slightly rounded stomach, as she spoke.

"Much, much better, thanks for showing me," he replied, as he sat and let his stomach settle after having eaten so many honey ants in such a short period of time.

"No problem, Mikey," Amy assured him, with her usual smile that always seemed to occupy her face whenever he was around, "It's pretty easy to find them."

"How?" Mikey asked.

"Simple," Amy replied, pointing toward the small furry lumps that were snoring a few feet away, which Mikey now realised were aardvarks, "Those guys love honey ants too, so I know that if there's a lot of them in one place, there's bound to be a honey-ant nest nearby," and noticing that Mikey was now very drowsy and yawning, mostly because of his lack of sleep, she added "It's okay if you want to take a nap, I'll take your shift for you."

"Nah, if I last this one out, I'll be nice and tired in the morning," Mikey replied, getting to his feet to walk over to the guard post to which he had been assigned the previouse evening, "But thanks anyway."

As he started toward the large boulder on the northeast corner of the herd's sleeping area, Mikey heard Amy get up and begin to follow him, "Can I come with you, just in case you change your mind?"

"Sure, I mean if you want to you can," Mikey answered, not looking back but continuing to walk toward the boulder, although he really appreciated that she was willing to give up her free time just for him.

"I just want to make sure that nothing bad happens, plus I've got nothing else to do anyway since my brother's still busy looking after his kids," said Amy, as she drew level with him.

"Oh damn I forgot to tell you, Colby told me to tell you that Larissa's got another litter on the way. I think he said that they'll be born in a few days and then a while more in the pouch," Mikey began, looking toward Amy as she walked along beside him.

Her face instantly lit up with yet another of her giant smiles, "That's great Mikey, was my brother happy."

"Colby? Yeah, it was his idea actually," Mikey replied, with a large smile now spreading across his own face.

"It always is," laughed Amy, and from what Mikey could tell this was probably true, "Wait, does this mean that his sons are leaving?"

"Ahh, yeah, Emile and Flory are leaving in summer," Mikey answered.

"Good for them," Amy remarked, then her smile begin to fade, in fact it seemed to disappear entirely, "I remember when my children left, the boys were thirteen and their sister was about nineteen." Amy gave a small, sad sigh, "I never heard from them again; at first I thought it was normal, that they were busy living their own lives, but then Colby's children always made sure to check in every now and then. If one of them didn't it was always a sure sign that they were, well, not living anymore."

Mikey could see that tears were beginning well up in Amy's eyes as she spoke, almost as if she was on the verge of crying herself.

"I took the news the only way I could, I had to assume that my sons were dead," she continued, tearfully "I don't know what would have happened to Ellie, but I'm pretty sure she's alright whether she visits or not."

Mikey stopped at the base of the boulder, which was to be his post for the night, turning to face Amy, who was definitely about to have a breakdown or something close to it, "Did you say Ellie?"

Amy looked toward him with tears beginning to roll down her face, "Yes, I did, why."

"So you say she has two brothers?" Mikey began, the whole situation beginning to unravel in his mind, "I bet their names were Crash and Eddie, right? And they're sister is a big orange mammoth."

"Yes, h-how did you know that," Amy replied, still sobbing a little but more surprised now, than sad.

Mikey smiled, "I met 'em several weeks ago and they seemed fine then, well except for Crash, his nose was bent."

"He's had that for a while actually, ever since he was ten I think," Amy broke in, although she wasn't crying she only possessed the slightest hint of a smile, "Why didn't they ever visit back again?"

"Well, a lot has been happening; the flood for one thing," Mikey continued, still smiling and looking straight into Amy's eyes, "They hang out with this weird bunch of animals, a sloth, a mammoth and that tiger, Diego. Ellie's also got a mate now; it's the mammoth, Manny, I think his name is."

Amy smiled a little more, her eyes beginning to return to their usually brightness after the momentary sadness which now seemed to disappear about as fast as it had appeared, "That's great, do you know where they are?"

"Last time I saw them they were up at the front of the herd, but the only one's I know who came with this herd, are Manny and Diego," Mikey continued again, now beginning his short climb to the top of the boulder, "Tell you what, we should go upfront and ask them in the morning, how about that?"

Although Mikey only then realised that this meant he would actually have to talk to Diego, and that was definitely not something he felt up to at the moment, he didn't complain, knowing that it was probably going to happen sooner or later.

"Great," Amy replied, smiling once more, as she made her own way to the top of the boulder after Mikey, "And thanks, you don't know how long I've been carrying that around for."

Sitting down on the cold, wet but thankfully flat stone, Mikey began to stare around at the shadowy plains around them, admittedly his nocturnal vision definitely made things easier to see but it wasn't quite perfect, sometimes forcing him to scrutinise particularly dark objects before dismissing them as a nothing more than a harmless, dark patches in the mud.

Although the often deep and entertaining conversations he had with Amy over the course of his four-hour watch gave him ample distraction from the boredom and monotony of the task, it still gave him far too much time to think about the many problems that were plaguing his life right now, and among them was the particularly curious group of thoughts which he also found to be deeply disturbing even to casually consider; the same ones that had been eating at him for the last three days at least.  
He often attempted to dismiss these bizarre thoughts immediately from his mind, always in favour of some of the much less complicated issues, but as it turned out, ever since he had been exposed to more of his own species than he had ever interacted with in his entire life; these odd feelings had only just been given the chance to surface and were not going away without a fight.

Even though Amy seemed very caring and understanding, he sincerely doubted that even she could help him with this strange new problem, when he himself couldn't understand the feelings that seemed to well up inside himself, especially considering who they appeared to surround and of what relevance Amy was to them.  
Admittedly he knew that there were indeed many other animals who had been through the same problem with which he now found himself struggling, but he sincerely doubted that any of them had had as much trouble as he was having in coping with the new prospect and the possible impact it could have on his brand new social life.

His world seemed to be falling apart again, but this time it was over something that he could never have, that he wasn't even sure of why he wanted it in the first place and his disgust at himself for what and who the problem actually concerned. What he found especially concerning were the _similarities _they possessed when compared to himself and the general belief that to like the opposite was considered normal, and why was it that only now did he fully realise what he had been feeling during the time that he had been around them.

At least he had the remaining three hours to decide whether he should bottle it up and ignore it, or even if he could and for how long, or maybe to just let it out and face the consequences?

No matter what he couldn't help but ask himself, '_Was anyone ever in more hell then me right now?_' And to him the answer was very simple, '_Probably not_.'


	13. Chapter 12

May I start by saying to my fans (if I actually have any) please, please, please don't hate me for this.  
This is a historical Chapter with a cliff-hanger ending, which I promise will be resolved late, and from the title I assume you can extrapolate what it is about. I should probably warn you that this chapter runs over the issue of homosexuality, which is very controversial at the moment. So read on if you want to or wait for the next chapter, as this issue only really becomes particularly prominent in part 2 of this story, which I will begin once I finish part one.  
R&R plz

Chapter 12

Crash and Casey

The late-morning sun shone down from the clear blue sky above, its light reflecting off the thick layer of snow which coated each and every one of the trees in the forest. The beautiful white glow of the pale snowflakes combined with the welcome warmth of such good weather filled the atmosphere with the kind of positive energy that had been so lacking in the years gone by.  
Birds soared through the sky twittering and chirping songs of merriment and joy, as the animals below ran and rolled about in the snow between the trees, each in there own way enjoying the spectacular beauty of such a magnificent day.

Casey sat in one of the powder-coated trees completely ignorant of the exuberant celebrations taking place around him but unable to sleep like a normal possum would during the day, mainly because of all the noise around him; so had begun silently reflecting on the past few months.

Almost two weeks had passed since he and his brother's favourite cousin and father figure had died; killed by a hawk before their very eyes and carried off to be devoured. Unfortunately for Casey, it had happened because Wilton had broken cover and put himself in immense danger just to save his little cousin after only just having tormented him with one of his all time favourite pranks.

Wilton didn't really choose favourite victims, only really whoever was in a situation that was ripe for an ambush, and both Casey and Eddie had spent lot of time with him playing around and having fun. It was just that he had just chosen a bad moment to pull a prank on Casey, who had still been very miserable after being teased by some other kids the previous day, and it wasn't just kids, everyone and everything seemed to have some weird hatred of him, all because of his slight difference. This difference was not physical, but it was still something that he had no control over and for some reason everyone seemed to despise it.

It hadn't really bothered him until mid last year when he had noticed that his sense of attraction was not exactly orientated in the way which most animals considered normal.  
After confirming it with Wilton, who had been surprisingly kind and understanding about the whole thing, Casey had been very confused and unsure about what he was supposed to do about it, often considering himself a freak and barely able to stand being around the other males. This was mostly because of his inherent hatred of the feelings that he was unable to fight when he was around them, especially some of the more attractive adults, it just made him shiver with self-disgust.

Although Wilton had tried his best to get Casey to accept it, the only thing he could really give the confused kid was reassurance that he was very much normal in every way, and that it wasn't his fault that females were not in his interest.

Everything had been as close as possible to normal for Casey, at least until three months ago when Eddie had decided to spy on one of the private conversations which his brother often appeared to be having with Wilton.

If he had been only the slightest bit less self-controlled he would have jumped out of his hiding place, probably laughing his head off, and maybe then Wilton and Casey may have had a chance to stop him, but he had instead remained hidden throughout the entire talk. Waiting patiently until both Wilton and Casey had left the scene before breaking cover and running off to spread Casey's secret amongst the other animals.

The news had spread like wildfire through all of the herds in the valley, although most of them didn't know who Casey was and even less seemed to care, enough of the other kids had heard and had snapped it up as fast as possible and it was less than a week before he became the object of almost every joke and the victim of almost every prank, with only his mother, his sister, Ellie, Wilton and his young niece Sarah as friends to fall back.

Sure Wilton had pulled a prank on Casey every once in a while, but it had almost always made him laugh, and in that very last, fateful, prank, the only exception had been the fact that Casey had been so miserable. But now, because of it, he was alone, Wilton was dead, Sarah had disappeared and his mother and Ellie were far too busy trying to look after Eddie.

"Eddie," Casey growled, just the name of his brother infuriated him so much that it was often as much as he could do, not to attempt to murder the stupid snitch.

Casey had always blamed Eddie for everything that had gone wrong; to him it was all his brothers fault. If he hadn't been such a nosey menace and blabbed everything, Wilton would probably still be alive and Sarah would still be here, and both of them would still able to comfort Casey who had sunk pretty low without them.

Still grumbling incoherently he made the choice to leave the tree in which he had spent the first few hours of the morning and try to get a calming walk; thinking that maybe the feeling of cold snow on his feet might help to cool his temper.

It took him a while to begin walking properly after his legs had gone to sleep from sitting in the tree branch for far too long, but after massaging them a little to get some sensation back, he was on the ground in next to no time and walking slowly through the pleasantly chilly snow.

He often had to doge to the side to avoid groups of running, screaming kids who seemed to be playing a game of tag, where the person who was 'it' appeared to be wielding a nasty looking stick and attempting to whack the others with it as a tag.

There was no reason to envy them, Casey was actually just happy that no one appeared to have noticed him yet, either because he made sure to keep his gaze set firmly set toward the ground to avoid any eye contact, or they were all too preoccupied with this particularly nice day to care about him, or maybe, just maybe, they may have at last gotten over the whole Casey gay thing which his idiot brother had started more than two and a half months ago.  
Although he had no particular destination in mind as he wandered through the tree covered snow drift, he was just happy to finally be able to walk around without anyone laughing and pointing at him, whilst asking him, mockingly, about who his current boyfriend was, and he was thoroughly keen to take full advantage of the very welcome moment of peace.

Wandering casually through the lightly spread woodland which grew near the centre of the valley, Casey happened upon a small stream. It was barely two metres wide and appeared to have melted almost completely, with the water flowing freely as it wound its way through the snowy forest; its smooth, glittering surface occasionally occupied by small lumps of half-melted ice as they floated with the current as it carried them away and out of sight.

There didn't appear to be anyone else around, in fact, it was perfectly silent save the occasional twittering of small birds flying between the white, lumpy branches of the snow coated trees which surrounded Casey, who made up his mind to stay and lie in the snow for a while. Flopping down in a small patch of sunlight about two feet from the stream, he just spread himself out and let the soft trickling sound of the softly trickling water sooth his nerves.

It wasn't long until the flood of negativity within his mind began to ebb away and, in the absence of any particularly positive memories or thoughts, it was instantly replaced by a state of emotional emptiness, a kind of blank state of mind which he embraced entirely as he shut his eyes and finally fell into a deep peaceful slumber.

* * *

Casey opened his eyes once more with an accompanying yawn; he soon noticed that it was clearly much later than he had previously thought, in fact it was very late in the afternoon now, several hours after he had fallen asleep, and he was no longer in a warm patch of sunlight.

Pulling himself up from the snow, which appear to have melted quite significantly since he first lay down there about three hours ago, he sat in the beautifully warm air, only now realising what all of the other animals had been on about this morning and loving the continued peace of this quiet haven he had found for himself, although he was a little unhappy that the cold hadn't killed him like he would have preferred.

'_It would have been better if Wilton were still here though; I could've gone back and told him about this place and Eddie never have know about anything, if only,' _Casey thought, letting out a small sigh as he stared into the brightly shimmering water of the stream, _'Oh well, maybe I'll sleep here tomorrow as well. It's nice and quite, plus there's no one around to tease me. Come to think of it, why should I even leave, that stream looks nice and there's bound to be something to eat around here, it's perfect for me. In fact I now officially declare myself leaving home and living here." _

He smiled happily, now deciding that he was never going back regardless of what his mother wanted, and feeling pretty thirsty after his six-hour doze, he got up and walked over to the stream and began to drink.

The water was fresh and cool, tasting just as clean as it looked as he lapped more and more into his mouth, it was so good it almost had a taste, and once his thirst had been sufficiently quenched, Casey stood up and began his search for something to eat.  
Of course he had to be cautious now that he was on his own; remembering how Wilton had had screamed as the hawk tore into his body being eaten was definitely not a pleasant experience, and Casey had no intention of it ever happening to him.

It took him only a few minutes to find what he was looking for, which came in the form of a large, edible, spider that he found lurking amongst the leafless branches of a small sapling, growing just a few metres from the stream where he had been sleeping.  
Although it was very crunchy and tough in some parts, the small creature was surprisingly juicy for something of its size and Casey finished it within seconds, making sure not to eat the head if only to avoid the off chance of poisoning himself, and, still very peckish after having not eaten in quite a while, he proceeded to search the surroundings for a few more snacks. Turning up one more spider and a couple of strange looking, but surprisingly tasty, insects; all of which he hastily devoured.

After his evening breakfast and with a full night ahead of him as the sun set behind the glacial walls of the valley in which he lived, Casey occupied himself by getting acclimated with what he now called his home.  
Thankfully no other animals appeared to spend the night in his new area, so he assumed it was safe for now, and thanks to the many widely spaced trees and shrubs he had plenty of places to sleep during the day, well when the leaves grew back anyway. In terms of hiding places, should any predators come around in search of a quick meal, especially hawks, Casey discovered several small holes around the place, mostly within the roots of some of the larger trees, of which he chose about three as great spots for him to sleep in should his more arboreal sleeping preference prove too dangerous at any point in the future.

For food he took note of several small, usually dead or leafless shrubs and trees where large groups of insects and arachnids appeared to congregate at certain times during the night.  
Although he was unhappy to find that there were no trees in the area which appeared to be bearing fruit; he blamed the Ice Age for that, he was very happy to find that the small stream wasn't just drinkable but shallow enough for him to swim in, should any of the following days prove hot enough to warrant such an activity and with the way things were going right now, it certainly seemed possible.

All in all, he deemed his new found home perfect for him, and best of all there was no one else around to tease or torment him, especially his brother, whom he sincerely hoped never to see again.  
However he did someday hope that someone would appear and hopefully then he might actually be able to have a real friend, something which he had lost when both Wilton and Sarah were forever removed from his life, and maybe there might even be chance of something more, even though he knew that for someone in his position this would be especially difficult, he could still hope that there was someone out there for him.

He knew that for the transition from his old life to be complete, Casey needed to change the one give away which could completely ruin his new found peace should anyone recognise it and this was of course his name, which needed some adjustment immediately just on the off chance that any of the other kids, or worse, his family, started poking around his home, in search of him.  
This wasn't as easy as he had thought, as most of the names which popped into his head were either already in use by some of the other kids, not different enough or just not right for him, but he did eventually come across something, a nickname which Wilton had used whenever Casey needed cheering up and it would always bring a smile to his face, just like it did now. Not just because it reminded him of happier times, but because it was everything that he needed; it was simple, it was unique and it was perfect for his new life because there was no way that anyone, family or foe would ever be able to recognise it.

Sitting below a small tree, chewing idly on a small insect, and listening to the crickets as they filled the night air with the sounds of their chirping, Casey smiled, he knew that this was, it just had to be, the start of something great.

* * *

In the months and eventually year that followed, _Crash's_ new found freedom gave him a whole new lease on life, because at last he could truly be himself.

When night fell he would wake up, jump to his feet and set about doing whatever he pleased.  
Normally his first activity would be running down to the stream for an evening drink, after which he would search the surrounding shrubs for anything that he could pig out on, and then, thoroughly stuffed with breakfast, he would laze on the ground next to stream letting his stomach settle as he brainstormed ideas for things to do throughout the night.  
Most of the time he would bounce around the surrounding area, often stopping to pull pranks on any animals which he happened to find lying around, usually sleeping soundly until he woke them. He couldn't really help this habit of mayhem, it just seemed to be his way of getting back at the world which had been so damn cruel to him, as well a great way to vent his long held anger and frustration.

Tonight was particularly special because he now found himself hiding in a small, surprisingly leafy, bush and looking upon a small family of beavers who lived downstream of his own home, one of whom he actually recognised as one of the many children who had tormented the hell out of him during a time that he now tried very hard to forget. A mischievous smile had spread across Crash's face as he gazed upon the unsuspecting family, he just couldn't decide on any one way to prank them that would satisfy him.  
He could try to roll them into the stream, but that seemed a little too risky even for him, or maybe he could try to scare them by whispering creepy things into their ears; that would probably give them nightmares, the thought of which filled him with malicious glee.

It took him several minutes to finally settle on something; simply sneaking up to the now adolescent beaver who had caused him so much misery and just head butting him as hard as he could, straight in the crotch. Admittedly it was a bit crude and probably a little bit sketchy morally, but he had been longing for a chance at revenge for so long now and this just seemed far too perfect an opportunity to waste, it wasn't even going to be difficult at all.

After quickly planning his attack, Crash slowly edged his way around the beavers, to a small shrub where he had a perfectly straight line toward his target, lined it up and dismissing any thought of sneaking, he charged out of the bushes with a loud rustling sound, thankfully not waking any of the other beavers, and headed straight toward his target, slamming head first into the unfortunate animal. After which he fled into the bushes again, before the beaver could even react to the sudden impact and, watching from the bushes, Crashed smiled wickedly as the young beaver woke up, grabbed his crotch and began to roll around on the ground screaming wildly out of intense pain and surprise; a very clear indication to Crash that his charge had landed right on the money.

Within seconds the beaver's parents and siblings were awake, his father trying to hold him still and ask him what had happened whilst the mother and the other children gazed around at their surroundings searching for any outside reason for this sudden, very unpleasant occurrence. None of them seemed to notice Crash who was still hiding in the bushes, lying face-down in on the ground, practically crying with tears of laughter, his own hands clamped tightly around his muzzle desperately trying to hold it shut and hold in the hysterical laughter that was trying to burst forth into the night air and reveal his position.  
It wasn't easy to contain his delight over one of his most hated enemies rolling around on the ground was just so unbelievably entertaining, although it was a little sadistic on his part to be enjoying the beaver's pain so much, just the thought of what this guy and several other kids had put him through was more than enough to wash away any tiny shred of regret that even came close to surfacing within his mind.

Try as he might to hold it in, the constant surge of self-impeded laughter was just too much to contain no matter what he tried, and with a loud snort as the force of the air itself escaped his mouth and nose, forcing his jaw open despite the secure grip he had had been trying to hold and Crash was rolling around, himself, except, unlike the beaver who was actually in pain, he was in the grips of a fit of wildly uncontrollable laughter, which echoed from his hiding place into the still night air. Rising over the agonised shouts of the beaver and his surprised parents.

In an instant all eyes focused on the rustling bush in which Crash was hiding, only just now managing to gain control over himself, and as the father beaver started toward it, Crash knew that it was time to go; quickly breaking cover and shooting away into the night, still laughing joyously.

Still sporting a broad grin on his face, Crash dashed across the snow, between the trees and bushes, and at the same time gazing around for a good place to hide, making sure to keep low on all fours in an effort to limit his visibility to any predator that may also have been woken by the ruckus.  
He couldn't help laughing out loud at every one of the angry calls and insults that were being shouted at him by the furious beaver who tore through the powder in hot pursuit of the wily possum which proving to be much faster than him and infuriatingly hard to keep track of.

About twenty seconds into the chase, Crash spotted a large, wide oak-like tree about thirty or forty metres ahead of him, which he immediately set off toward, already knowing exactly what to do when he reached it was simply run around to the other side, where the beaver couldn't see him, and climb up into the safety of the branches.  
It was especially perfect as the beaver wouldn't be able to see him, even if the tree didn't have any leaves on it at the moment, because beavers were daylight animals and the angry father would have no chance of spotting a possum hiding amongst the branches at night without the night vision which Crash's species luckily possessed.

It was a stretch but Crash made it, panting desperately for the air which he had suddenly found very lacking with every breath giving very little, if any respite to his oxygen starved muscles.  
As he reached the tree he hurriedly attempted to run around to the other side, turning a little to sharply and rolling a small distance in the freezing snow before turning over onto his feet and tearing off toward the tree again. Although he was still watching where he was going; in his panicked, oddly cheerful, oxygen starved state his focus became completely centered on the tree, ignoring any other obstacle or animal that might have been in the way, subsequently running headlong into something standing only about a foot from base of the trunk. The impact itself, slammed the soft furry animal into the tree trunk behind, and dazed Crash, who merely grabbed who or whatever it was and unceremoniously threw it into the snow next to him and out of his way before tearing upwards into the branches and escaping the infuriated beaver dad.

"Ouch, hey wh-" the animal began in a voice muffled by a face-full of snow, but Crash was in far too much of hurry to listen or even take one second to look at who or what it was that he had run into as he hastily disappeared amongst the snowy branches above.

Clinging to one of the inner most branches, attempting to remain as still as possible, Crash clamped a hand around his mouth to stifle the sound of his desperate panting for air and watched the ground to see what would happen now.

For the first few moments the small furry mammal on the ground remained very much alone, first pulling his face out of the snow and shaking his head to rid itself of the snowflakes which still clung to its fur before standing up and gazing around, most likely trying to see where Crash had gone.  
It wasn't hard for him to see that, the animal was a young possum, not much older than himself, eleven or twelve at most, and judging from the tone of the voice it had used when Crash had knocked it into the tree just moments beforehand, the possum was definitely male.

"Grr, where did that damn overgrown rat go?" shouted the beaver as he too reached the tree, also pretty breathless, probably more so than Crash judging by how unfit he looked.

After taking a quick look around, the angry father began to wander around to the other side of the tree where Crash had chosen to run up into the branches and incidentally where the other young possum was still standing and puzzling over what had just happened. All the while staring up at the branches, carefully scrutinizing them for any sign of movement that might indicate where his fugitive had hid.

"You!" the beaver cried furiously, noticing the clearly confused young possum standing at on the other side of the tree and beginning to march toward him, all the while sporting a livid glare, "It was you wasn't it? Cowardly little rat!"

"What do you mean, what did I do?" asked the bewildered young possum, taking several steps backward, wide eyed and terrified as the enraged stranger drew closer.

Crash watched from his hiding place amongst the tree limbs and sniggered, perfectly happy with the fact that this kid was gonna take the rap for his prank. After all the only thing the beaver was gonna do was yell at him for a while, maybe shove him into the tree or something, but that was about all a herbivore of his size was ever likely to do. Plus this was especially great because meant that Crash's gag would catch two animals in one go, and that would be a new record for him.

"You know what you did to my son!" the beaver shouted, drawing nearer and nearer to the scared and confused kid.

"B-But I didn't do anything I was just-just hanging around here, then-" the little possum began, but was cut short as the beaver reached him and in one quick movement, shoved him against the tree and held him by his chest fur, glaring furiously into the innocent creature's terrified eyes.

"Don't lie, you're the one who kicked my son," the beaver growled quietly to the possum, as he struggled vainly to free himself.

Crash once again found himself using his hands to stifle an impending outburst of laughter, this time it wasn't just because of how hilarious this was and how glad he felt that it wasn't him down there, but also because of the fact that the beaver clearly didn't know that Crash had definitely head-butted his son a lot harder than any kick could strike him. In fact, with any luck the beaver's son was probably still rolling around moaning and wondering whether it would still be possible for him to have kids of his own anymore.  
Although Crash was interested to see just how angry this father was over such a small joke, c'mon he was acting like Crash had just beat his son to within an inch of his life.

"It's night and he was asleep, and you sneak up and hit 'em, especially in that area, why'd you do that, eh? Thought it was funny?" the beaver brought his face so close to the whimpering kid's that their noses were almost touching, and Crash actually had to climb a little further down to hear what was being said "Or maybe cause ya liked it, eh, That's right I know who you are."

Crash froze, his smile beginning to fade as he began to realise exactly who this beaver was referring too, clearly not realising that he actually had someone completely different which was very weird considering some of the differences but then again that's daylight vision for you.

"We thought, no wait, we hoped a hawk had snatched you up for lunch," continued the beaver, twisting his handful of the poor kids fur, "But now you come back and you actually _attack_ my son, well, that was a big mistake, you little FREAK!"

"Wait, I'm not Ca-" the possum began pleadingly, trying even more furiously to break free of the beavers grip, but he never had a chance to finish, as this full grown, adult male beaver threw a full fledged punch straight into the kids stomach and as he finally let go, the poor young possum slid down the tree and lay whimpering in the snow.

Crash was horrified, any trace of amusement he had had in the suddenly violent situation was completely erased by this one outrageous overreaction by the angry father, who actually proceeded to beat the kid a little more; throwing a few more punches in and always in hitting and this went on for several minutes until he stopped for a moment to rest, after which he gave the whimpering possum a powerful kick in the centre of his body and continue to beat him.

Without even taking a moment longer to think about what he was doing, Crash leapt from the branch to which he was clinging and landed with a soft thud as he hit the snow, causing the beaver to pause his monstrously over the top act of revenge and turn around to view the new arrival.

"What the heck," the surprised beaver cried, bringing his attention away from the innocent child and toward the other newcomer, who was incidentally another young possum, "Where did you come from?"

Crash didn't answer, but charged straight at the beaver with his teeth bared, growling furiously and, completely blinded by adrenalin and animal rage, he leapt straight at the surprised beaver the moment he was close enough, grabbing onto him and beginning to sink his teeth into everything that he could reach; if this guy thought it was fun to beat up an innocent possum, he had another thing coming.

Within seconds this fight became an all out death-brawl, Crash wasn't even thinking about anything that he was doing, with nothing in his mind consumed entirely by burning fury. He couldn't even feel the punches that the much larger beaver was constantly throwing into him, often knocking him away completely only to leap straight back into the fight again.  
On and on it seemed to go, until finally a desperate punch was thrown, a sickening crack echoed into the night and Crash was sent flying.

Landing in the snow, breathless and bleeding profusely from a very badly broken nose, he could hear the beaver seizing his chance to escape and running away as fast as he could and Crash could only hope that the vicious bite marks he had left on the him would serve as a continuing reminder of what possums were really capable of, well if there was nothing else left to do.

As his senses began to return Crash was suddenly hit by a tremendous wave of intense agony from his surprisingly severe injury. Quickly rolling to his feet, he attempted to stifle the bleeding by pressing his hand onto his nose, crying out and falling to the ground, as another surge of pain erupted from his face. From what he had felt when his hands had pressed against his muzzle, it wasn't just his nose that was broken, but the entire top section of his jaw had felt jarred.  
He knew that this was serious, in fact this was known among possums and almost any other animal with a muzzle of any kind as a mortal injury, and he also knew that his chances of survival were very slim at best unless he managed to get help.  
Getting slowly to his feet, he attempted to stagger toward the tree as large droplets of blood fell in quick succession from his nose, but he only managed to take a few very weak steps before falling forward into the snow again, blood pouring out from both his nose and beginning to trickle ominously from his mouth as well.

He was far too weak to roll over onto his back let alone stand up again; that last effort to walk had completely drained him, and all he could do now was lie in the snow as the blood dribbled down his badly broken muzzle and into the icy powder, staining it crimson red, just waiting for the inevitable.


End file.
